President Trump said this week that his top priority for Congress is to pass a bill called the SAVE America Act. It’s about what credentials Americans need to show before they vote. But it’s more than a voter ID law and has elements that would have an outsized effect in Alaska. Alaska Public Media Washington Correspondent Liz Ruskin joined Alaska News Nightly host Lori Townsend to talk about it.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Lori Townsend: Liz, give us an overview. What is the SAVE America Bill?
Liz Ruskin: The basic idea is to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections. That’s already the law, and proponents say this law would enforce it. It’s become a huge rallying cry for conservatives.
LT: Would it require proof of citizenship to vote?
LR: No, not to vote, and I think a lot of people are confused about this. Earlier versions called for that, but let’s talk about the version that the U.S. House passed last month. It would require people to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote. And then to vote, a person would have to show photo ID, such as REAL ID, a drivers license and the like.
LT: OK, let’s talk about the proof of citizenship you have to show to register. What document qualifies?
LR: This may be the most stringent aspect of the bill, and it’s meant to be. You can show a U.S. passport. But not everyone has one of those. You can also meet the requirement by showing government-issued photo ID — but only if it says your birthplace is the United States. I’m not sure, for most people, what kind of photo ID they’d have that shows birthplace, other than a passport.
LT: Can you just show your REAL ID? Like a driver’s license or state ID card?
LR: You can to vote. But to register to vote, your Alaska REAL ID would not suffice, if this bill becomes law, because it doesn’t say you’re a citizen and doesn’t say you were born in the United States. Another point about registration: the bill says to register, you have to present your proof of citizenship "in person" to an elections official. So you can still register by mail, but your registration isn’t valid until you go to an office and show your documents, which has to happen before the registration deadline. If you live in a remote community, that might be difficult.
In presidential elections, Alaska has same-day registration, so presumably you could register by mail, and you could activate that by showing your proof of citizenship when you go to vote. (Same-day registration is only allowed for the offices of president and vice president.)
LT: What about online voter registration, like Alaska’s automatic registration with the PFD application? Would somebody who gets registered that way still have to show up at an elections office in person, with proof of citizenship?
LR: The bill isn’t as clear about online registrations, so I don’t know. But I should mention that, if you don’t have a valid passport, the bill says you can show a combination of things to prove citizenship, like a photo ID plus a certified copy of your birth certificate or naturalization certificate.
LT: President Trump keeps saying this bill would ban voting by mail. Is that true?
LR: No, but the bill would make it harder to vote by mail. It says you’d have to send in a copy of your ID when you request a ballot and when you turn in that ballot. We know that, historically, failure to get a witness signature is the biggest reason mailed ballots are rejected in Alaska. That just requires access to another person. Getting access to a photocopy machine or a printer would add another level of difficulty.
LT: Liz, why is this such a hot-button issue nationally?
LR: President Trump wants to keep it at the top of the agenda, and right-wing pundits are ringing the alarm bells daily. They claim millions of illegal voters are swaying election results. There’s no proof of that. In Alaska, the state reported last year that it found 70 suspected non-citizens who voted or tried to vote over the previous decade. The state charged more than 10 of them with voting crimes.
But, even if this bill does not become law, it has a political purpose. Trump or anyone else who’s unhappy with the midterm election results in the fall can claim it was due to illegal voting.
LT: On the state level, Alaska will have a ballot measure saying only citizens can vote – a restatement of current law. Does that serve a political purpose, too?
LR: Yes. The sponsors make a case that their ballot measure provides an important clarification. But another impact, no doubt, is that it will inspire voter turnout among Alaskans who are motivated by the specter of noncitizens voting.
LT: The U.S. Constitution says that states control the “Times, Places and Manner” of elections, so would this survive a legal challenge?
LR: Good question! And our own congressional delegation is divided on this. Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she supports voter ID but says it’s up to the states to decide what documents they’ll accept to prove a voter is legit. She is taking a lot of heat these days for opposing the bill. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Nick Begich, though, are sponsors. Begich says people should read the end of that Constitutional clause. It says that Congress “may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.” So he says this bill is within the role the founders contemplated for Congress.
LT: What’s the timeline on this for lawmakers?
LR: The U.S. Senate is set to take it up next week. They’ll have an initial vote, but it’s not clear what happens after that. Republicans don’t have 60 votes to get past a filibuster. There are calls to abolish the filibuster, or an old-fashioned talking filibuster, so it could tie up the Senate for days.
