President Donald Trump’s recent refusal to sign a broadly bipartisan housing bill unless Congress first passes the SAVE America Act once again pushed his voting bill back into the center of national politics.
As Republicans—one of us represented Wisconsin in Congress, the other served as governor and attorney general of Pennsylvania—we come from different states with different election systems, but we share the same conviction: only eligible American citizens should vote in American elections, and the public must have confidence that our elections are secure.
That is why we must demystify local election administration and build trust in the people and processes that make our elections work. And it is precisely why we are concerned about the SAVE America Act.
The bill’s central premise is popular: noncitizens should not vote. We agree. However, federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin laws, like those of other states, already require voters to be U.S. citizens. Election officials in both states already use multiple safeguards to verify eligibility, maintain voter rolls, and investigate potential violations.
The real question is not whether noncitizens should vote. The question is whether this federal bill solves a real election-administration problem in a careful, workable way—or whether it creates new problems for millions of eligible citizens and the local officials who run our elections.
The legislation would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, along with photo identification to vote. In practice, that means a standard driver’s license would often not be enough. A REAL ID may not be enough either, unless it indicates citizenship. Voters would generally need a passport, passport card, birth certificate paired with photo identification, naturalization papers, or another qualifying document.
A young voter registering for
