After the Republican-led House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act, a voter registration bill that experts warn could disenfranchise millions of women across the country, fears began to emerge that it would similarly be approved in the Senate.
However, according to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, that’s not happening.
“Let me be clear: I will not let this noxious bill, the SAVE Act, become law,” he said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “Every single Democrat is united against it. They need 60 votes. The SAVE Act is dead on arrival.”
The current makeup of the Senate is 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two Independents, senators Bernie Sanders and Angus King, both of whom caucus with the Democrats. For bills to pass through the chamber, they need 60 votes, meaning seven Democrats or Independents would have to agree to the SAVE Act in order for it to become law.
Schumer vowed to never let that happen, even if the bill is brought to the floor for a vote.
“Democrats and Americans see this bill for what it really is: a nasty, vicious attack on our democracy,” he said, calling the bill “very reminiscent of Jim Crow.”
“It’s done with one purpose in mind: voter suppression,” he continued. “They think that those who vote Democratic are less likely to vote than Republicans if this passes. It’s trying to slant the elections away from free and fair.”
The SAVE Act raised alarm bells earlier this year when it was reintroduced in the 119th Congress after having been introduced in 2024. It would require every person to provide proof of citizenship—either a birth certificate or a passport—in addition to a photo ID in order to register to vote, citing fears of voter fraud as the reason it is necessary. This requirement would impact millions of eligible voters who do not have a passport or ready access to their birth certificate, as well as those who vote by mail. Research has shown that these requirements would most greatly impact voters of color and young voters.
The requirements would also impact anyone who has changed their name from the one on their birth certificate so that it does not match the name on their photo ID, and does not have a passport—married women who took their husband’s name, trans people, or anyone who changed their name for any reason. This huge, disproportionate impact on married women specifically drew concern that if passed, the act could immediately take voting rights away from millions of women.
Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, told Glamour earlier this year that the law is also unnecessary, noting there are already “multiple safeguards” to prevent noncitizens from voting. Instead, the SAVE Act would simply make it more difficult for everyone to vote.
“It would destroy the most popular methods of registering to vote—whether that’s online, by mail, through a registration drive, or when you update your driver’s license at the DMV—by requiring people to show their documents in person to register. That would keep out many more eligible voters and cause chaos for election administration,” she said.