HR22-119

What This Bill Does

H.R. 22, the SAVE Act, would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require documentary proof of United States citizenship when applying to register for federal elections through covered registration methods. Noncitizen voting in federal contests is already restricted by federal law; this proposal changes proof, administration, list maintenance and enforcement rather than first creating a citizenship qualification. The official record checked September 22, 2026 lists receipt in the Senate on April 10, 2025 as its latest action. H.R. 22 is not enacted, and its introduced and House-passed texts are substantively identical.

Accepted evidence includes a valid United States passport; a REAL ID-compliant document that actually indicates citizenship; military identification combined with a service record showing United States birth; specified government photo identification showing United States birth; or government photo identification paired with one of the listed birth, adoption, consular, naturalization/citizenship or KIC American Indian records. The text does not make an ordinary driver's license, every REAL ID card, or a birth certificate by itself universally sufficient.

Covered mail-form applicants generally must present proof in person to the election office by the registration deadline or, where the specified same-day/early-voting registration option exists, at the polling place by election day. States must provide instructions and reasonable disability accommodations. A separate process requires an applicant lacking the listed proof to attest under penalty of perjury and provide other evidence, followed by an official citizenship determination and sworn affidavit. States must also provide a process for document discrepancies. Neither alternative evidence nor a discrepancy automatically disqualifies or automatically registers the applicant.

Who Benefits and How

State election officials gain access, without federal response fees, to relevant federal citizenship-verification information, including requested batches, within 24 hours. That can improve the information available for registration decisions, although this text does not establish the error rate of any database or quantify prevented unlawful voting. The bill does not guarantee electoral outcomes or provide financial benefits to a political party.

Applicants unable to produce the listed documents receive an express alternative-evidence process relative to a strict document-only rule. Applicants with document discrepancies and mail applicants with disabilities receive stated procedural safeguards. Newly naturalized citizens benefit from prompt DHS notices to their State's chief election official, potentially reducing outdated-status problems, but notification is not automatic voter registration. Provisional-ballot rights are preserved, with counting under the safeguard tied to citizenship verification under the new process.

Persons aggrieved by the specified registration violations gain an express basis within the existing NVRA civil-enforcement framework. The bill does not create unrestricted standing, automatic damages or a guaranteed lawsuit outcome. The Election Assistance Commission and other officials developing the covered registration materials receive an exemption from the Paperwork Reduction Act's information-collection review requirements.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Eligible citizens applying for covered registration would face document-production requirements and, for covered mail forms, an in-person presentation step. Obtaining records, resolving discrepancies or traveling to an election office can impose time and expense, especially when acceptable documents are not readily available. The text does not quantify those costs or establish that a particular demographic group is categorically barred. It also does not require every existing voter to reapply solely because of enactment, although its verification and list-maintenance duties concern current rolls.

State election officials, motor-vehicle authorities and designated registration agencies must check citizenship evidence, revise forms, notify applicants, record document details and operate verification processes. An ongoing State verification program must be established within 30 days. Federal agencies holding relevant data face the 24-hour response and interagency-sharing requirements. DHS must investigate whether to initiate removal proceedings when the specified checks determine that a noncitizen is unlawfully registered; this is not automatic deportation.

The proposal directs removal from federal rolls on documentary or verified noncitizenship information and adds such removals to the stated exception to the NVRA 90-day systematic-removal cutoff. It also adds State-law noncompliance as a removal ground. It does not authorize removal solely on an unverified suspicion or establish that a database mismatch alone proves noncitizenship.

Election officials face additional civil and criminal exposure for registration without the required proof, and executive-branch personnel face the added material-assistance provision. The criminal amendments remain within the existing knowing-and-willful deprivation/fraud framework and its fine/up-to-five-year penalty; they are not strict liability for every clerical error. The bill provides no separate implementation appropriation. Its immediate effective date precedes the ten-day guidance and thirty-day verification-program deadlines.

Key Provisions

• Requires the specified citizenship evidence for covered registration, with sworn alternative-evidence and discrepancy-resolution procedures.
• Requires in-person proof for covered mail applications, applicant notices and reasonable disability accommodations; does not itself abolish absentee voting.
• Directs State verification programs within 30 days, relevant federal data responses within 24 hours without response fees, and specified noncitizen list removals.
• Expands civil enforcement and inserts specified conduct into existing NVRA criminal provisions, retaining their governing intent elements.
• Requires Election Assistance Commission implementation guidance within ten days and prompt DHS naturalization notices to State election officials.
• Exempts development/modification of covered registration materials from Paperwork Reduction Act review and preserves provisional-ballot safeguards.
• Extends specified NVRA record/verification requirements to the historically exempt same-day-registration category, with the stated identical-State-law alternative; it does not eliminate every exemption.
• Applies on enactment to applications submitted on or after enactment and preserves exemptions from federal laws other than the NVRA.