The SAVE Act is voter suppression, not election integrity

It might sound reasonable when politicians say, “If you need an ID to get on an airplane or buy beer and cigarettes, then you should need one to vote.” Indeed, polling tells us most Americans support that overly simplistic concept, without appreciating the significance of this intentionally misleading comparison.

Getting on an airplane or buying beer are just customer privileges provided by a commercial transaction.

Voting is not a commercial transaction; it is a constitutional right affirmed by multiple amendments to the U.S. Constitution. This inalienable right has been earned by generations of Americans who fought and died over 195 years of relentless struggle.

The SAVE Act would jeopardize that right for tens of millions of Americans without contributing to election integrity. We know that because we have a version of the SAVE Act in Idaho.

For over 80 years, the League of Women Voters of Idaho has helped thousands of Idahoans register to vote. This work was dramatically altered with the comprehensive restructuring of Idaho’s voter registration ID law in July 2023. League members now spend increasing amounts of time helping Idahoans attempt to get the documents they need to register or re-register to vote. We are seeing real disenfranchisement connected to document cost and new hurdles to registration.

The state of Idaho now requires a current Idaho driver’s license or Idaho ID or an unexpired U.S. passport or other federal ID or a current tribal ID. Many young and older Idahoans do not have a current Idaho driver’s license or an unexpired US passport. To get one, if they are U.S. citizens, they need a certified birth certificate.

In years of helping Idahoans register to vote, we virtually never meet an elderly Idahoan with a certified birth certificate or the ability to order one online from the vital statistics office of the state in which they were born, without assistance. If older Americans have a birth certificate, it invariably is a bad photocopy which the state will not accept.

Depending on the state issuing the certified birth certificate, the price can range from $20 to $50 and can take days or months to receive. It took 10 months to get a birth certificate from Illinois for one gentleman League members helped. This despite him receiving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and having been a registered Idaho voter for over 40 years before moving.

For people whose name differs in any way from what is on their birth certificate, they need certified documents to explain the change. This applies to about 69 million American women and 4 million men.

In Idaho, we are seeing the greatest impact on older women who married and changed their name, people with disabilities, victims of natural disasters and unhoused citizens. Despite having been voters, in some cases for decades, they moved, so they must re-register, which triggers document requests. The expense and complexity of collecting documents, which may include certified death, divorce and adoption papers, are financially and emotionally insurmountable for some.

Why disenfranchise millions of U.S. citizens when it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal and state elections and verification tools exist?

Repeated studies over the years have proven in Idaho and across the country that non-citizen voting is vanishingly rare. In Idaho, with the risk of felony charges, imprisonment, a fine up to $50,000 and deportation, why would anyone knowingly vote illegally to cast a single vote? These consequences are clearly stated on the voter registration.

Additionally, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has made its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database (different than the SAVE Act) available for free use by all states to verify voter eligibility.

Support for the SAVE Act is supporting voter suppression, not election integrity. Tell politicians that you know the difference between a constitutional right and commercial privilege. The right to vote must be defended. This is the inalienable right that ensures the survival of our representative democracy.

Kendal Shaber is director of voter services with the League of Women Voters Idaho.