Republicans Must Pass the SAVE America Act Now - Before Time Runs Out
Every day, Americans register to vote with little more than a simple check of a box to affirm U.S. citizenship - in most cases without any hard evidence required. It’s an honor system that assumes everyone plays by the rules.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act - or the SAVE America Act - ends that reliance on self-attestation. It requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, like a birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or even a valid passport, when an individual registers to vote. It would also require a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections and mandate states to utilize existing federal databases to identify and remove non-citizens from their voter rolls.
The measure is straightforward and simply enforces long-standing federal law that only American citizens are eligible to vote in federal elections - yet it remains locked in Washington gridlock.
As federal lawmakers return from their spring recess, the clock is ticking for the Republican majority to turn this proposal into law.
The SAVE America Act is urgently needed to close the enforcement gaps that have eroded our nation’s election integrity. State audits continue to uncover non-citizens on voter rolls - people who have actually cast ballots in our elections. In Michigan, for example, a 2025 review identified fifteen non-citizens who voted in the 2024 presidential election. And it’s not only in blue states - in Texas, authorities opened investigations into thirty-three potential non-citizen voters from the 2024 cycle, and in Georgia, an audit revealed twenty non-citizens registered with at least nine having voted in prior elections.
Indeed, these cases represent a tiny fraction of total votes, but they carry outsized consequences. I’ve seen many elections in my lifetime decided by only a small margin of votes, especially at the local level. When ineligible votes slip through, even unintentionally, they provide legitimate grounds for doubt and fuel widespread skepticism. Americans have given lawmakers a clear mandate to act, with an overwhelming majority supporting proof-of-citizenship and voter ID laws. Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll reported in a February survey that more than 70% of voters across the political spectrum responded favorably to the SAVE America Act - meaning this isn’t even a partisan issue.
Voters intuitively understand that the documents needed for passports, firearms purchases, banking, and federal benefits should also apply to the sovereign act of electing our representatives.
The SAVE America Act closes these vulnerabilities at the registration stage instead of relying on after-action cleanups. It shifts from reactive enforcement to proactive verification while preserving state flexibility. Thirty-six states already require voters to show some form of identification to vote, like in Iowa and Georgia, where voter turnout is sustained despite stricter identification requirements. And despite what Democrats and their talking-head pundits in the media have claimed, the bill includes practical accommodations for voters facing name changes or who have lost their documents. The burden is minimal and outweighs the far greater risk of the slow decay of public trust.
Speaker Mike Johnson, to his credit, did his job - the SAVE America Act passed the House with unanimous Republican support and even one Democrat breakaway. Yet it now remains stalled in the Senate, with unanimous Democrat opposition blocking the remaining seven votes needed to bypass debate and overcome a filibuster. And with the midterm election nearly six months away, this rare alignment of Republican power may be squandered.
Senate Leader John Thune - and President Donald Trump, in part - face a defining test. They must prioritize this bill and deploy every procedural tool reasonably available to secure a final up-or-down vote - even if it means changing Senate rules to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Letting it languish in gridlock or get sidelined by other priorities signals weakness on an issue that has maintained broad public support.
Passing the SAVE America Act must transcend partisanship as it reaffirms the core principle of self-government: that only the citizens who live under our laws should choose the leaders who write them. The time to act is now, and Republican leaders must move quickly to enact this essential safeguard before another election cycle unfolds under a shadow of doubt and division.
Peter Giunta is a millennial voter and Republican strategist based in New York. He has appeared on Fox News and writes about the issues driving Republican voters from the youth perspective.