- Details
- By Neely Bardwell
Native Vote. The U.S. House of Representatives is considering the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which will require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation in person when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information.
Currently, in most states you are able to register to vote online through a state sanctioned website. If passed, this Act would remove that option and require all citizens to register in person and have an acceptable form identification to prove citizenship.
The legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on either a passport or a birth certificate in combination with a government-issued photo ID to prove their citizenship. Either a passport or birth certificate needs to be presented in order to register to vote.
More than 140 million American citizens do not possess a passport, and as many as 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name. This would also impact millions of transgender Americans who do not possess these documents reflecting the name they use.
Native communities already experience barriers to voting including long distance to polling places, language barriers, invalid addresses, and more. This bill would only exacerbate these barriers, especially with the new in-person requirement which would now require Natives who live in rural communities to make the long trek to register.
Four Directions Native Vote has continuously fought back against such laws that would present even more barriers to Native people exercising their right to vote. OJ Semans, co-executive director of Four Directions, says this bill is “highly dangerous.”
“The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act currently in congress is highly dangerous legislation. The requirements within the bill would annihilate the Native Vote turnout all across America within and without Indian Country,” Semans said in a statement to Native News Online. “Tribes and tribal organizations need to strongly oppose this legislation to their Congressional Delegation within the House and Senate.”
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