By Betsy Brewer Brantner
Contributing Writer

In the state of Pennsylvania, the Department of State oversees the administration of elections in the state, as well as campaign finance and lobbying disclosure rules.

However, on Feb. 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, also known as the SAVE America Act. The bill would require voter registration applicants to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and impose strict photo identification rules to vote in federal elections. Similar bills with proof of citizenship requirements passed out of the House in 2024 and 2025, but stalled in the U.S. Senate. The 2026 version is largely similar but adds requirements related to voting in person and by mail.

If passed, the SAVE America Act, while only explicitly affecting federal elections, will preempt state voter registration processes as well.

Deb Landau, the program director for policy and advocacy with the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, posted a statement on the organization’s website that said the new rules would require people to show proof of citizenship, in person, to register to vote, with only a few documents accepted, like birth certificates or passports.

Landau said that a change like that would hit women, people of color, and rural voters hardest.

“Over half of Americans do not have a passport,” said Landau. “The statistics show that 21 million eligible voters don’t have ready access available to these documents — so, maybe they don’t know where they are – maybe they’re in a safety deposit box, maybe they were lost. They don’t know.”

Some women have been voting since they were eligible. Many of those same women have lived in the same town most of their life, but the SAVE Act would still require that if you are a woman who is divorced or widowed, you would need to have the records of your divorce or the death certificate of your husband if you have remarried. This obviously hits women more than men because women are typically the ones to change their name in a marriage.

Let’s present one scenario: Mrs. Smith, who was actually Veronica Johnson on her birth certificate, was married to Robert Smith over 50 years ago. He died in the Vietnam War and she married Bob Johnson 20 years later. Everyone in the community, where she has voted for over 50 years, knows her story or has seen her at the voting poll, but suddenly that doesn’t matter.

If the SAVE Act is passed and becomes law, she will have to present a passport or include copies of her birth certificate, her first husband’s marriage certificate and death certificate, and a copy of her marriage certificate to her current husband. That’s a lot of paperwork. If you haven’t saved that, or if that paperwork was lost at some point or destroyed in a fire, you will spend a lot of time and money (often hundreds of dollars) to find or replace the documents. And let’s not forget, if the requirement is a passport, that requires money and time. And you will need all that information and documentation to get a passport.

For those who thought the Real ID in this state would prove citizenship, it does not. Remember waiting in line to get that?

A standard REAL ID does not prove U.S. citizenship, but rather verifies identity and “lawful presence.” It is available to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and temporary visa holders. While it acts as a secure, federally compliant ID for boarding planes, it is not proof of citizenship, unlike a passport or birth certificate.

We already have voter ID laws and it is illegal for noncitizens to register to vote or cast a ballot. Statistically speaking, the rate of non-citizens voting in elections is a minuscule .0003%.

Another thing to consider is that the SAVE Act would mandate that proof of citizenship be submitted in person at an election office, completely undermining the convenience of mail-in registration.

This limits voter registration, including ending registration online and through voter registration drives. It eliminates universal mail voting and, perhaps the worst thing, it violates voters’ privacy by sharing voter information with the Department of Homeland Security.

Oxford resident Peggy Ann Russell had this to say about the SAVE Act.

“I believe that this was not well thought out because, although it does provide protection, it also discriminates,” Russell said. “It especially discriminates against women, and perhaps that is the whole purpose. There are parts that protect the privilege of voting, but some of the parts actually are going to make voting impossible for some innocent people.”

The question remains: Is this act targeted against women?