On April 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 22, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which requires all voters to provide documented proof of citizenship in person while voting. If passed in the Senate and signed into law, this bill will create unnecessary barriers to voting and disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. 

 

Parts of the SAVE Act Who does this impact?
  1. Requiring documented proof of citizenship in the form of a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization certificate
 One in 10 eligible American citizens lack these documents or face significant barriers in obtaining them.

Voters of color, married women who change their names, and young voters will be significantly affected.

Those with REAL ID, military or tribal ID would not be considered as having sufficient proof of citizenship under this new law. 
  1. Must present proof of United States citizenship to an election official for voting by mail 
 Every current and new voter will have to present their proof of citizenship to election offices, which can be hours away, in order to update their registration status. This poses a significant burden for rural, disabled, and elderly citizens. 

This also eliminates voter registration drives and online voter registration, thus reducing voter turnout. 
  1. Remove noncitizens from registration rolls
 Voting as a noncitizen is already illegal and very rare – only 30 votes out of 23.5 million votes during the 2016 general election were suspected to be made by noncitizens. 

During previous voter roll purges, almost two-thirds of suspected noncitizens in Alabama were, in fact, later found out to be eligible voters. If rolled out on a larger scale, this will unjustly disenfranchise eligible voters as already seen in Virginia during the 2024 election. 

 

National APAMSA strongly condemns this bill, as it will have far-reaching effects in limiting the voices of millions of Americans, especially people of color who are disproportionately affected by this potential voting law. We stand by the statements put out by organizations like ACLU and APIA Vote that echo our same concern for diminishing voting access. As mentioned by previous statements, National APAMSA recognizes that voting is a pivotal social determinant of health that underlies our ability as medical students, health advocates, and future leaders of health to serve our communities and strive for better health outcomes. 

Please contact your local Senator to express your opposition against the passage of the SAVE Act. You can use 5 Calls to quickly locate your representatives’ numbers and be prepared with prompts that can help you discuss this particular bill and other issues at ease. Other resources like When We All Vote can also streamline the process to contact the appropriate representatives.

For questions or concerns, please reach out to Brian Leung at rapidresponse@apamsa.org