Republicans introduce the obligation to present a document confirming US citizenship when voting; This is a big change for Americans, and the timing may additionally cause tensions, because in some states the primaries will start in March, says American scientist Bohdan Szklarski from the University of Warsaw.
The House of Representatives, in which representatives of the Republican Party have a majority, adopted the SAVE America Act bill, introducing in each state the obligation to confirm citizenship during registration, e.g. by means of a valid passport or birth certificate. When voting, it is obligatory to present an ID document with a photo.
American media point out that is a flagship project of President Trump's administrationwho considered the 2020 elections he lost to be “rigged.”
Republicans argue that although American law provides for a voting ban for people who are not US citizens, its enforcement varies. There is no requirement to present documents confirming citizenship.
– All these restrictions that Republicans want to introduce are logical from our point of view. After all, in Poland, unlike in the USA, showing ID at the ballot box is natural – admitted prof. Bohdan Szklarski, political scientist, Americanist from the University of Warsaw.
The expert recalled that in the United States there was once a system based on trust a driving license was sufficient to confirm identity. If someone gave their address, it meant they actually lived there. Now, however, according to the professor, Americans are increasingly moving away from relying solely on verbal declarations. To collect, for example, a driving license, you need to confirm your residential address by taking with you, depending on the state, electricity bills, water bills or a bank statement, which state your address and name. In some states, however, such documents are still sufficient to cast a vote.
However, when social media was flooded with conspiracy theories about the alleged rigging of the 2020 presidential election by Democrats, individual states began to introduce regulations tightening the registration and voting process. It is primarily state law that determines how elections are conducted.
According to the Brennan Center think tank At least 16 states have passed 31 restrictive voting rights laws so far, and 30 of them will be in effect in the November 2026 midterm elections. For example, Ohio has passed laws that do not allow election officials to count absentee ballots after Election Day, except for votes cast by military and overseas voters. Many states have also introduced regulations regarding identification documents required to vote or register.
Szklarski admitted that in the US, electoral law is constantly changing at the state level, which is natural. However, a number of tensions may arise regarding the SAVE America Act. First of all, he pointed out, the time taken to process this act raises doubts. If it manages to pass the Senate, which may be a problem, it will come into force in March. But that leaves very little time before the congressional midterm elections in November. Especially since elections in the USA are two-stage and primary elections are held first.
In some states – Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and North Carolina – such primaries to select candidates who will run for party positions in congressional elections begin in March.
– The timing of the adoption of the act makes the introduced rules even more restrictive – Szklarski pointed out, adding that Americans do not have the habit of adopting vacatio legis, and the new regulations will come into force immediately.
According to the expert, what is also questionable is the fact that electoral changes are being imposed on the states by the federal government, which in many cases will probably end up in the courts. All the more so because federal power is currently in the hands of Republicans, and many states are governed by Democrats, which will increase suspicion about the legitimacy of federal regulations. Since for decades it was handled at the state level and it worked.
Szklarski recalled that election protests have always occurred in the USA, but they were not important from the point of view of the final election result. Only after the 2020 elections did the current president introduce the slogan of “rigged elections” into the public debate. – This has never happened in the United States, and even if there were any suspicions, both parties kept quiet because they knew that raising these issues would be to the detriment of each of them – noted the expert.
In the opinion of the PAP interlocutor, the SAVE America Act aims, among others, to: legitimize the narrative of 2020 election fraud, and Republicans want to show that they are “setting everything straight.” – Political polarization, not only in the USA, means that reporting something is more important than solving the problem. This may be the case with this act, Szklarski said.
However, Republicans argue that the current law is not stringent enough. Wisconsin Republican Bryan Steil, who presented the bill in Congress, argued, according to the Associated Press, that the bill is needed to enforce existing laws, especially those that prevent immigrants who are not U.S. citizens from voting.
Registering foreigners to vote in federal elections is already a crime in the US, punishable by fines, imprisonment or deportation.. Anyone who registers must certify under penalty of perjury that he or she is a U.S. citizen. Foreign nationals also cannot vote at the state level.
Experts from the Heritage Foundation think tank, which is close to the current administration, Cully Stimson and Loty Ries, issued a statement on the draft bill. They argue that the requirement to provide a photo ID is an expression of “common sense” and that it is largely supported by Americans.
Both women also referred to the map of electoral irregularities published by Heritage, which describes from several to several hundred such cases in individual states. For example, cases of false registration, double voting, or fraudulent use of mail-in ballots.
Democrats opposing the changes argue that new rules will limit Americans' ability to vote. They often do not have easy access to documents confirming citizenshipsuch as a birth certificate, naturalization certificate or passport. According to the Associated Press, almost half of Americans do not have a US passport.
A report prepared in June 2024 by the Brennan Center together with the VoteRiders organization and the University of Maryland shows that over 9 percent American citizens of voting age – 21.3 million people – do not have readily available proof of citizenship, and at least 3.8 million people do not have such documents at all.
According to the Democrats Therefore, the Republicans want to rig the elections by limiting the number of voters. This accusation was formulated, among others, by: Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee.
According to Szklarski, the new regulations may indeed have a “chilling” effect on a group of potential Democratic voters. For example, those who have recently legalized immigration status and are afraid of having it revoked due to the prevailing atmosphere in the USA.
– People who have problems with the law will not want to comply with the new rules. I am not talking about convicts, but about those who, for various reasons, are afraid of the police, offices and efforts to obtain a photo ID – admitted the expert. He also assessed that the Republican regulations would not make it difficult for Americans who were serious about the elections to cast their votes.
Anna Gwozdowska (PAP)
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