Atlanta (AP) – The American house Thursday Approved legislation require a documentary proof of American citizenship For anyone who registers to vote, something that the voting rights group warned could deprive millions of Americans.
Requirement was a main election Priority for President Donald Trump And the Republicans of the House, who argue that it is necessary to eliminate cases of non -citizen voting, which is already rare And, as many state affairs have shown, is generally an error rather than part of a coordinated attempt to reverse an election. It is already illegal under the federal law for people who are not American citizens to vote and can lead to crime accusations and expulsion.
The bill, known as Safeguard American Vecleter Eligibility Act, or The act of safeguardNow goes to the Senate, where his fate is uncertain because the Republicans do not have a majority important enough to avoid an obstacle.
Here is an overview of the key questions of the debate on proof of citizenship for the vote:
Who would be affected if the bill became the law?
If it ultimately becomes the law, the Save Act would take effect immediately and apply to all requests to register voters.
“This has no impact on the people who are currently registered to vote,” said representative Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin republican who argued for the bill.
Voting rights groups say there is more in history. The law would affect voters who are already registered if they move, change their names or should update their registration. This was recognized to a certain extent by the author of the bill, the republican representative Chip Roy of Texas, during a recent hearing on legislation.
“The idea here is that for individuals to continue to vote if they are recorded,” said Roy. “If they have an intermediate event or if the states want to clean the rollers, people would present themselves to register to demonstrate their citizenship so that we can convert our system for a reasonable time into a recording system based on citizenship.”
What documents would be necessary to register?
The Save Act obliges states to reject any request for registration of voters in which the applicant did not present “a documentary evidence of citizenship in the United States”.
Among the acceptable documents to demonstrate the proof of citizenship are:
– A real driving license in accordance with the identification which “indicates that the applicant is a citizen”.
– a valid American passport.
– a military identity card with a military service file which lists the claimant’s place of birth as in the United States
– A valid photo identity document issued by the government which shows that the claimant’s birthplace was in the United States
– a valid photo identity document issued by the government presented with a document such as a certified birth certificate which shows that the place of birth was in the United States
What if my driving license does not lists my birthplace or does not indicate that I am an American citizen?
In general, driving licenses do not list a birthplace or do not indicate that the card holder is a citizen – even many who are real in accordance with identification.
Real ID was adopted by Congress in 2005 to establish minimum standards for identifiers such as driving licenses and obliges candidates to provide a social security number and demonstrate legal status as a legal citizen or resident.
After years of delays, any driving license used for identification to go through the safety of the airport will have to be real in accordance with identification from May 7. American passports will always be acceptable.
Although states designate real compliance on driving licenses with marking such as a gold or black star, this alone would not indicate American citizenship. People who are legal residents but not citizens can also obtain a real identity document.
States are currently not required to label the IDs with a “citizen” brand, although a handful of states (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington) offer a real alternative to citizens only who could meet the requirements of the safeguard law. Republicans say they hope that more states will move in the direction of IDs that indicate citizenship.
“The structure is set up now – I think there are at least five states that have citizenship status within the framework of the real identity document – encourage more states to do so,” said Roy. “It would be part of the goal here.”
The adoption of the real identification was slow. In January 2024, around 56% of driving licenses and identifiers in the United States were real in accordance with identification, according to data collected by the Ministry of Internal Security.
What about people who cannot access birth or marriage certificates?
The voting rights group claims that the list of documents does not take into account the realities to which millions of Americans do not have easily access to their birth certificates and about half which have no American passport.
They also worry about additional obstacles for women whose birth certificates do not correspond to their current identifiers because they have changed their names after getting married. There were examples of this in local elections last month New Hampshirewho recently implemented proof of citizenship for the vote.
Republicans say that there is a provision in the safeguard law which orders states to develop a process to accept additional documents such as a marriage certificate, which could establish the link between a birth certificate and an identity document issued by the government.
They argue that the process is similar to obtaining an American passport or a driver’s license in accordance with ID.
“We have mechanisms giving the State a large enough deference to take determinations on how to structure the situation where an individual has a name change,” said Roy. “The process is specifically envisaged in this legislation.”
Democrats thwarted that the bill should have specified how it should be done, rather than creating the potential to have 50 different rules.
How do people submit their documents?
The legislation indicates that candidates who submit the registration form of federal voters by mail must present documentary evidence of American citizenship in person at their local electoral office within the framework of a deadline established by their state.
Voting rights groups have noted that it would be a huge obstacle for people who live in more rural regions of the country, where the nearest electoral office could be a few hours by car.
The Save Act orders the consultation of the American Committee for Assistance in the Elections, in order to ensure that “reasonable developments” are made to allow disabled people who submit the form to provide proof of citizenship to their electoral official.
The legislation also considers that certain states authorize the recording of voters the same day and says that, in these cases, voters must present proof of citizenship at their ballot “at the latest on the date of the elections”.
This would mean that people who do not have such proof with them should come back with their documents before the polls are close to being recorded and their ballot counts.
It is less clear what it means for states that have online voter registration systems or automatic registration of voters implemented through the automotive vehicle agency. The officials of the democratic state elections have feared that the legislation means that these processes would no longer be operational under the proposal.
The legislation indicates that any person registering through a state agency of motor vehicles is also required to provide proof of citizenship. He ordered the election aid commission to publish advice to state electoral officials on the implementation of the law requirements.
Why did the Republicans mentioned this?
Republicans say any instance of Voted by non-citizensWhatever the rarity is unacceptable and undermines confidence in the American elections.
Democrats react by saying that voting by non -citizens is already illegal during the federal elections – that of the president and the congress – and the sanctions can lead to fines and an expulsion. They say that Congress should be more focused on states to improve their ability to identify and remove all non-citizens who could find themselves on voter lists instead of forcing everyone to prove citizenship in advance.
A recent examination of Michigan identified 15 people who seem to be non-citizens who voted in the general elections of 2024, on more than 5.7 million ballots in the state. Among these, 13 were referred to the Attorney General for potential criminal charges. One of them involved a voter who has died since and the last case remained in investigation.
“Our meticulous examination confirms what we already knew – that this illegal activity is very rare,” said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a statement. “Although we are taking all the violations of the law of elections very seriously, this small fraction of potential cases in Michigan and at the national level do not justify recent efforts to adopt laws that we know would block tens of thousands of citizens of Michigan to vote in future elections.”
