Would you need a passport, REAL ID to vote if SAVE Act passes?

(NEXSTAR) – The SAVE Act is about to take center stage in the Senate, potentially bringing new, strict identification requirements impacting how you vote, and whether you need additional documents like your passport to cast a ballot.

The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (or SAVE Act), would require Americans to prove they are citizens when they register to vote and provide a valid photo identification before casting their ballots, which some states already demand.

Federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S. citizens, but there’s no requirement to provide documentary proof.

The House passed the bill in February, but it faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where there’s unified Democratic opposition. Republicans, including President Trump, say the legislation is needed to prevent voter fraud, but Democrats warn it will disenfranchise millions of Americans by making it harder to vote. 

You may already be in compliance

Many voters may already have the IDs and documents they need to vote.

To cast a ballot at the polls, you would need to show a valid photo ID.

Thirty-eight states already require some form of ID at the polls, a Nexstar analysis found. In most cases, it’s a photo ID that is required. If a voter arrives at the polls without an ID, they may still be able to cast a provisional ballot, depending on local legislation.

Only 12 states and the District of Columbia will, with few exceptions, let you vote at the polls without any documentation, under certain circumstances. Should the SAVE Act become law, voters in these states would be impacted, as well as those who vote by mail.

As The Hill previously reported, the SAVE Act lists valid state-issued driver’s licenses, U.S. passports, military IDs, and tribal IDs with a photo and expiration date as acceptable forms of identification.

What about proving citizenship?

It’s this requirement that may be more cumbersome, regardless of whether you are or are not a citizen.

Under the SAVE Act, you would need proof of citizenship to register to vote. This could be as simple as providing your valid passport or a birth certificate – the latter would also require a photo ID, and potentially another document, if you’ve changed your name since birth.

In addition to a non-expired U.S. passport, the text of the bill lists multiple acceptable forms of photo IDs to prove citizenship. Some would need to be paired with a photo ID:

A REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or state ID card (as long as your state already requires proof of citizenship to issue a REAL ID)

A U.S. military ID card with a U.S. military record of service showing your U.S. place of birth

A photo ID from a federal, state, or tribal government that shows your U.S. place of birth

Other photo IDs from a federal, state, or tribal government not mentioned above, paired with a birth certificate, “an extract from a United States hospital Record of Birth” created when you were born, an adoption decree showing you were born in the U.S., a Consular Report if you were born abroad, a Report of Birth from the Secretary of State, a Naturalization Certificate, a Certificate of Citizenship, or an American Indian Card from the Department of Homeland Security with the “KIC” classifcation.

You may have to complete the registering or re-registering process in person rather than online or via mail, the Legal Defense Fund noted.

Why your driver’s license may not be enough to prove citizenship

While your REAL ID would count as a photo ID when voting, in only a few states would it be considered proof of citizenship. Only five states — Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington — offer the type of enhanced REAL IDs that explicitly indicate U.S. citizenship.

Outside of those states, you would need another document to prove you were born in the U.S.

While you do not, at present, have to prove your citizenship when registering to vote, you do have to attest under penalty of perjury that you are a citizen of the U.S.

Changes could come fast if SAVE Act passes

If the SAVE America Act were enacted, the new rules for voter registration and voter identification at the polls would take effect immediately. Trump says it’s necessary for Republicans to win in the midterm elections — even though they won both chambers of Congress and the White House without the law in 2024.

With primary elections getting underway next month, critics say it would be difficult and costly for state election officials to implement, and could confuse voters.

Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, said he isn’t ”aware of any state that currently requires what this would require.”

“If it’s passed tomorrow, the day after, states would need to implement this,” Elias said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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