Attorney General Bonta Joins Coalition Opposing Federal Legislation That Would Create Substantial Barriers to Voting

OAKLAND — As part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced sending a letter to congressional leadership in opposition to H.R. 22, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The coalition argues that the proposed legislation would create unnecessary and burdensome proof of citizenship requirements that would effectively disenfranchise millions of eligible voters across the country. 

Reintroduced by Republican Congressman Chip Roy (TX-21), the SAVE Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship before registering to vote or updating their voting registration. The coalition emphasizes that this requirement would reverse three decades of progress made under the NVRA, which was designed to remove barriers to voter registration and promote greater participation in the democratic process. 

“The so-called SAVE Act would be bad for blue and red states alike. I strongly urge members of Congress to oppose it,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The fact of the matter is this: federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and voting by non-citizens is exceedingly rare. Those who say otherwise are being dishonest. To make matters worse, should this bill become law, millions of Americans would be disenfranchised because they lack ready access to a passport or a valid birth certificate, or because they might struggle to take time off from work to present in-person their proof of citizenship. Forty-two states across the country, including California, have online voter registration systems in place that already allow us to verify whether someone is or is not a U.S. citizen. Put another way, we do not need the SAVE Act in any way, shape, or form. With consumer confidence in our economy plummeting, it is my sincere hope that elected representatives in Washington D.C. will instead focus on tackling the true crisis — the affordability crisis — that is rightly concerning most people.” 

In the letter to House Speaker Michael Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the coalition emphasizes that non-citizen voting is extremely rare. Studies show that in jurisdictions with high immigration populations, only 0.0001% of votes cast were by non-citizens. Despite this negligible risk, the SAVE Act would impose substantial burdens on eligible voters, particularly affecting poor and minority communities. 

The attorneys general warn that the legislation would create significant obstacles for eligible voters, including:

• Requiring documentation, such as passports or birth certificates, that can be cost-prohibitive and must perfectly match current names.
• Mandating in-person presentation of citizenship documents, effectively eliminating online voter registration systems currently available in 42 states.
• Creating barriers for married women whose birth certificates don't match their current names.
• Jeopardizing the franchise for active-duty service members who cannot return to their local election offices.

“Over 21 million voting-age citizens do not have ready access to a passport, birth record, or naturalization record,” the coalition notes in their letter. “And 80% of married women would not have a valid birth certificate under the SAVE Act because those women chose to adopt their partner's last name.”

The attorneys general also highlight concerns about the substantial administrative and financial burdens the Act would place on state election systems. The legislation would require states to fundamentally restructure their voter registration procedures and create new systems for document verification, while criminalizing mistakes made by election officials with penalties of up to five years in prison.

The coalition urges congressional leadership to oppose the SAVE Act and maintain accessible voting rights for all eligible Americans. Protecting election integrity should not come at the cost of disenfranchising legitimate voters.

Joining Attorney General Bonta in sending this letter are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. 

A copy of the letter can be found here.