Congressman George Latimer outside County Office Building in White Plains
On Feb. 19, U.S. Representative George Latimer (NY-16) was joined by local elected officials and voting rights advocates in White Plains to denounce the Safeguard American Voting Eligibility (SAVE) Act. This legislation is expected to be brought up in the U.S. House of Representatives next week.
“This bill would be better named the Stop All Voter Engagement Act because that is what it will do. U.S. citizens have the right to vote in national elections, period. We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder,” said Rep. Latimer. “It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, it happens incredibly rarely, and if it does, there is a legal penalty. Instead, this disastrous bill will make it harder for women and college students to vote.”
The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or a passport to register to vote and require states to remove an individual’s registration from a voter roll if there is not documentary proof or verified information that the person is a U.S. citizen. This legislation could disenfranchise many voters in our state and around the country, lead to citizens being taken off voter rolls, and undermine trust in our election system. It also increases the burden on state and county election officials to implement and ensure compliance, without any additional funding.
“With the SAVE Act, legislators are proposing changes to our elections that would severely limit access to the ballot for eligible Americans, especially voters of color, rural voters, military members, and women. The proposed SAVE Act’s requirement of providing documentation to prove American citizenship to vote in federal elections is voter suppression. Laws are already in place to thwart illegal voter registration by non-citizens,” said Kathy Meany, President, League of Women Voters of Westchester.
“The SAVE Act would put up barriers to voting by requiring every single American citizen to provide very specific documents, by either presenting a passport or an original copy of their birth certificate in person when registering to vote, and anytime they update their voter registration. The SAVE Act is not about safeguarding elections – it is about silencing voters. We must join together to oppose this legislation and protect people’s freedom to vote. Every citizen should contact their Congress member to oppose the SAVE Act. Do not delay. Take action now!”
State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “It is unacceptable that Congress is considering a bill that, under the guise of election protection, will prevent tens of millions of Americans from voting and fulfilling their constitutional rights. There is no evidence to support that non-citizens are attempting to vote in the United States, as H.R. 22 claims. We must be clear that this bill will do real harm against tens of millions of American citizens who are entitled to vote. We should never create unnecessary, politically motivated barriers to voting, whether to those who changed their names, those whose names are different from others, or for any other made-up reason. New York has gone to great lengths to reduce barriers to participation, and this bill is a stain on our democracy and our right to vote. I urge every American and every New Yorker to call their Congress member and tell them to vote no on this bill.”
“I thank Congressman Latimer for taking on this important issue. The SAVE Act is not just unnecessary—it’s an outrageous attack on voting rights built in ignorance. This legislation is a solution in search of a problem, and the real threat to our democracy isn’t noncitizen voting—it’s the continued effort to suppress legitimate voters under the guise of ‘election integrity.’ The SAVE Act disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, including married couples who changed their last names, young voters without passports, low-income individuals, and elderly voters who lack original birth certificates. These people are all citizens, and they all have a right to vote,” said Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins.
