The bill would require proof of citizenship to vote, which experts say could pose problems for people who have changed their names.
President Trump’s repeated claims about 2020 election fraud have been proven false
Legal experts have questioned the motives behind the FBI’s recent seizure of election documents in Georgia, a state that President Donald Trump lost in 2020.
WASHINGTON – The Republican-led House on February 11 passed a bill backed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
The bill, known as the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, would require voters to present a government-issued photo ID to vote. Opinion polls show widespread support among both political parties for photo ID requirements in elections.
But independent experts and voting rights groups say the measure could prevent millions of Americans from voting. It would create broad criminal penalties for election officials who register voters who fail to properly provide proof of citizenship.
The bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, and other versions of the bill are already stalled and face an uncertain future.
If the bill, which President Trump has indicated he intends to sign, is fully passed, millions of women without a married name on their birth certificate or passport could face additional hurdles in registering to vote or voting, according to the Brennan Center.
The success of the bill, which passed 218-213 in the House, underscores that many Republicans still feel the need to address Trump’s repeated concerns about election integrity, even though his claims of widespread fraud in the United States are unsubstantiated. The president recently called for the “nationalization” of U.S. elections (the Constitution requires voting to be processed at the state and local level).
The bill sparks a major new fight in the Senate over the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, also known as the “filibuster.” Conservative hardliners have advocated weakening guardrails to fully pass the SAVE America Act.
But without the filibuster (already significantly reduced by Republican lawmakers in notable ways during President Trump’s second term), there would be little incentive for Republicans and Democrats to work together. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) has said publicly multiple times that Senate Republicans don’t have enough votes to further weaken the filibuster.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him at @ZachSchermele on X and @zachschermele.bsky.social on Bluesky..
