July10--WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 8281, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
In advance of the vote, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) and CAPAC Civil Rights and Voting Rights Task Force Chair Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in opposition:
“The SAVE Act is yet another effort by House Republicans to undermine Americans’ confidence in our elections and promote Donald Trump’s Big Lie. Despite knowing the former president lost the 2020 presidential election in a free and fair election, Republicans are forcing the House to undergo this exercise on behalf of Trump and to satisfy those who perpetrated the violence of January 6. The SAVE Act is legislation designed to suppress the votes of millions of Americans, including tens of thousands in every single congressional district.
“If the SAVE Act became law, expensive, unnecessary, and overwhelming hurdles to register to vote would be erected for all citizens, especially naturalized citizens who are disproportionately Asian American and Pacific Islander. It would also impact married women who take on new surnames, rural Americans, and low-income Americans. Online and mail registration would be gutted, and driver’s licenses, REAL IDs, military IDs, and Tribal IDs would no longer be acceptable identification for Americans to use to register to vote. One-third of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community have limited English proficiency and there are already ongoing efforts to criminalize multilingual assistance in voter registration. Along with language access, AANHPIs already disproportionately face barriers to voting, which the SAVE Act would only further increase.
"Let’s be clear: there is no evidence of any meaningful amount of voter fraud committed by non-citizens, and requiring all citizens to compile excessive, sometimes expensive, documentation of their citizenship will only serve to disenfranchise many qualified voters. Instead of passing voter suppression bills, the House and Senate should instead take up and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would work in tandem to protect and strengthen our democracy and our freedom to vote.”