PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
(WTAQ-WLUK) — The House of Representatives passed a bill backed by President Donald Trump that would change the voting landscape in the United States, requiring proof of citizenship and voter ID and implementing new rules for mail-in ballots.
Despite handily winning the 2024 election, Republicans say the law will combat prevalent voter fraud. Democrats argue it’s a voter suppression law.
Perhaps the biggest piece of the legislation, which is now heading to the Senate, is requiring in-person proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. That means if you’re registering in-person the day of an election, you would need a birth certificate or passport, along with proof of residence and your ID, to vote.
“It’s extremely concerning to me, because what we don’t want to do is make it harder to vote,” says Janice Quinlan, the president of the Appleton-Fox Cities League of Women Voters. “69, 70 million people would be disenfranchised, or it would be made difficult to vote,” she says.
As I learned more about it, I learned that that was disproportionate. It really fell more on rural people, low-income people, people of color and especially on women, because the SAVE Act requires that if you’ve had a name change, you need to document that.
For the millions of Americans who have changed their names, including 84% of married women — according to Pew Research — a birth certificate would be useless to vote, as their legal name no longer matches it.
It’s unclear if the legislation would allow people to bring additional documents, like a marriage license, along with the birth certificate. If not, that means a passport would be required — something only half of Americans have, according to the State Department.
When asked if this was a concern for his constituents, Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson referred to a clip he posted on X from a recent Newsmax interview:
Americans don’t want their legitimate votes canceled out by fraudulent ones.
Across the political spectrum, people need to feel confident that our elections are legitimate, regardless of the outcome.
The SAVE America Act will boost confidence by requiring proof of citizenship… pic.twitter.com/ueUIxfRG6b
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) February 12, 2026
Americans don’t want their legitimate votes canceled out by fraudulent ones.
Across the political spectrum, people need to feel confident that our elections are legitimate, regardless of the outcome.
The SAVE America Act will boost confidence by requiring proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote.
Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin offered this statement when asked about the SAVE Act:
I am all about keeping our elections safe and secure, and trust our local clerks to do that, but that is simply not what this bill is about. This bill is being pushed because Trump lost an election six years ago and has been lying about it and undermining faith in our elections ever since. This bill will make it harder for Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote and to have their voices heard at the ballot box — and I am against that.
These changes, Quinlan adds, won’t just impact voters.
“It also has a huge impact on our workers who verify all of those things, and we’re already stretched very thin in those areas, and to add additional costs and time and complications to those people, that’s a concern too. Because as I said at the outset, we really do not have any kind of a problem with voter fraud,” she said.
Right now, it’s unclear when the Senate will vote on the SAVE Act, but it’s unlikely to pass, as it needs 60 votes to overcome the filibuster that Democrats have promised.
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