WASHINGTON — Today, Fair Elections Center released the following statement from Michelle Kanter Cohen, Policy Director and Senior Counsel, on House Passage of the so-called “SAVE Act,” which would make it harder for millions of Americans to vote.
“The so-called SAVE Act is a cynical attempt to make it harder to vote, taken from the same anti-voter playbook behind the Trump administration’s recent executive order on voting. As an organization that has litigated against documentary proof of citizenship requirements because they make it harder for eligible people to vote, we’ve seen that hard-to-get and expensive document requirements make it harder for citizens to vote, and don’t solve any problem with our elections. Recent studies show that around ten percent of voting-eligible Americans–millions of citizens—do not have documents to show their citizenship. Those citizens are more likely to be women, low-income people, and from communities of color.
And let’s be clear: there is absolutely no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting in state and federal elections. Voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is incredibly rare, and when it happens, it is often a mistake. The extremely harsh consequences of deportation and prison time sufficiently deter noncitizens from voting in state and federal elections.
The Anti-Voter SAVE Act does nothing to make our elections more fair or secure. It is now up to the Senate to do the right thing and reject this bill, and our representatives should instead pass laws to ensure that everyone, regardless of how much money they have or where they come from, can have a say in our government.”
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Fair Elections Center is a national nonpartisan and non-profit voting rights and election reform organization based in Washington, DC whose mission is to use litigation, public education, and advocacy to remove barriers to registration and voting, and to improve election administration.
