“SAVE” Act Alert

Since 2023, NCJW-Pgh has been working with a coalition of local and national organizations to increase civic participation and understanding among our region’s youngest voters - high school students just turning 18. There are numerous hurdles for these young voters to navigate in getting registered and ready to vote.

Recently the U.S. House passed a bill, the “SAVE” Act, that seeks to solve a “problem” that doesn’t exist, but that does make the process of voting  many, many times more difficult. 

In addition to requiring a short list of acceptable photo IDs to vote, the bill requires in person “proof of citizenship” in order to register to vote. In order to register, an eligible person would need to acquire a photo ID if they didn’t already have one, locate their birth certificate, and show up at an election office, typically during business hours (when, generally, school is in session.) There are a lot of challenges with this:

• Many voters would need to travel for an hour or more - particularly those using public transportation and/or rural voters who may live far from their county seat. Right here in Allegheny County, a voter would need to travel 2 hours round trip on public transportation to get from Trafford or Cheswick to the county election office. 

• Many voters, particularly young voters, do not have ready access to their birth certificates. If a voter in Allegheny County needed to both replace their birth certificate and obtain a state ID, the cost would be at least $63.50.

• Beyond young voters, people whose name doesn’t match their birth certificate - for example married women - would have additional hurdles to jump through in order to register.

Time and time again, the evidence has shown that the instances of non-citizen voter registration are exceedingly rare, and non-citizen voting even rarer. State elections officials have gone through great lengths to ensure that only those eligible are able to vote, while maintaining an accessible system. Let’s be clear - the intent of this bill is to suppress the vote, particularly among young people, low income folks, women, and people of color.

Both PA Senators Fetterman and McCormick have expressed support for this bill. Please take a moment to contact them and let them know that Pennsylvanians will not stand for voter suppression - tell them to vote NO on the “SAVE” Act.

Senator John Fetterman: (202) 224-4254

Senator David McCormick: (202) 224- 6324