Attorney General Ford Opposes Bill That Would Create Substantial Barriers to Voting

Carson City, NV — Today, Attorney General Aaron D. Ford joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in sending a letter to congressional leadership in opposition to H.R. 22, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. AG Ford and the coalition argue that the proposed legislation would create unnecessary and burdensome requirements that would effectively disenfranchise millions of eligible voters across the country.

 
“This act would create significant burdens for Nevadans who wish to exercise that most sacred of American institutions: the right to vote,” said AG Ford. “We cannot allow law-abiding Americans to have their democratic rights threatened for political theater, and I won’t stand quiet while some members of Congress do exactly that.”

In the letter to House Speaker Michael Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the attorneys general emphasize that non-citizen voting is extremely rare. Studies show that in jurisdictions with high immigration populations, only 0.0001% of votes cast were by non-citizens. Despite this negligible risk, the SAVE Act would impose substantial burdens on eligible voters, particularly affecting poor and minority communities.

 
AG Ford and the coalition warn that the legislation would create significant obstacles for eligible voters, including: 

• Requiring expensive documentation such as passports or birth certificates that perfectly match current names;
• Mandating in-person presentation of citizenship documents, effectively eliminating online voter registration systems currently available in 42 states;
• Creating barriers for married women and others whose birth certificates do not match their current names; and
• Jeopardizing the franchise for active-duty service members who cannot return to their local election offices.

“80% of married women would not have a valid birth certificate under the SAVE Act because those women chose to adopt their partner's last name,” the attorneys general note in their letter. And “over 21 million voting-age citizens do not have ready access to a passport, birth record, or naturalization record.”

 

The attorneys general also highlight concerns about the substantial administrative and financial burdens the act would place on state election systems. The legislation would require states to fundamentally restructure their voter registration procedures and create new systems for document verification, while criminalizing mistakes made by election officials with penalties of up to five years in prison.

 
AG Ford and the coalition urge congressional leadership to oppose the SAVE Act and maintain accessible voting rights for all eligible Americans. Protecting election integrity should not come at the cost of disenfranchising legitimate voters.

 
Joining AG Ford and coalition lead Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

 

Read the coalition's letter.   

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