Before the SAVE Act, prepare your voter go-bag

Dear Editor,

A "go-bag" is a pre-packed bag containing essential items for survival that you grab in an emergency, like a wildfire or rising flood waters.

I’m suggesting you get together a new type of go-bag containing what you’ll need, and what actions to take, to help our nation survive in a new type of emergency – the assault on democracy and your right to vote.

In 2024 and 2025, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act was proposed, aimed at amending the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, to require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. Both the 2024 and 2025 bills passed in the House, but failed in the Senate.

The SAVE Act was again introduced in 2026.

Republican lawmakers argue that the SAVE Act is necessary to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections, although audits and studies show confirmed cases of non-citizens voting are approximately 0.0001% of all ballots cast. Non-citizen voting is already a felony. The Constitution gives the states the right to manage their own elections, making this SAVE Act a hostile takeover of the voting system by the federal government, and an attempt at voter suppression.

The government already has proof of your citizenship. It has your birth certificate, marriage and divorce records, adoption records, Social Security number, driver’s license and passport. This new legislation shifts the burden of proof from the government to the voter, for information the government already has. Election officials already cross-reference with DMV and Social Security databases to confirm eligibility before voter registration is approved. If you don’t have the required documents, you’ll have to get them from the government – the holder of this information – requiring time and money, to present the documentation back to the government, from whom you originally got the documentation!

The SAVE Act also requires that to register, you’ll need an eligible photo identification document. To obtain this, you’ll need proof of citizenship through a U.S. Passport, which has its own document requirements, and cost to obtain, or an original or certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate, or a U.S. naturalization certificate. Real ID cards could not be used to register, unless voters have an Enhanced Real ID card that indicates citizenship.

The government is also trying to compel states to submit their voter registration lists to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for comparison to the DHS’s error-ridden database. This is an attempt to acquire voters’ sensitive personal information, with no restrictions on what the federal government can do with the data once DHS receives it.

It would mandate voter roll purges every 30 days, placing enormous burdens on election officials. It will end the current 90-day "quiet period" that protects voters from being mistakenly thrown off the rolls right before Election Day.

Citizens would no longer be able to register – or re-register because of a name change or move – on-line or by mail.

The Act is an equal-opportunity disenfranchiser, affecting all citizens, but mostly impacting married women with name changes, younger voters, low-income individuals, voters of color, those with limited mobility, military families, and rural voters, potentially disenfranchising 21 million people – approximately 9% of voters. It may bar voting by mail.

The SAVE Act takes effect the day it passes. It allows no time or money for implementation, and the confusion and chaos it will create will cast doubt on the process and legitimacy of election results – with consequences we can’t predict.

Now is the time to set up that voter go-bag. If you are not yet registered, register now, before these hurdles are put in place. Start to collect the required documents, because even if this bill doesn’t pass, the people in power will never give up trying. If you have a child who is 16 or 17, they can preregister, and they will automatically be registered the day they turn 18. Check your registration status on a regular basis. Print out a copy or take a screen shot. Make a plan to vote early. If it is possible, and if you must vote by mail, have your ballot hand-canceled and mail it immediately. Put the Board of Elections number on your phone. If you are registered and are prohibited to vote at the polls, request a provisional ballot or affidavit. If denied, call your Board of Elections immediately for help.

Democracy is a form of government where power is held by the people and exercised through free, fair and regular elections of officials who represent their interests. It is defined by citizen participation, protected individual freedoms, and the rule of law. Your vote is your only access to power. If you don’t think that’s true, then why are they trying so hard to take it away from you?

Scary as it is to acknowledge – it will never be as easy again as it is now to hang on to our democracy. It will only get harder as we slip closer to a full autocratic, authoritarian state, with its paramilitary force, internment centers, lack of due process, and which has shown its disregard for the rule of law and our Constitution.

Say no to the SAVE Act, and use your voice and power. Register now and vote.

-Anita Krusko, Somers