Proof of Citizenship

USCIS announced an overhaul of the SAVE database that may provide election officials with additional streamlined tools to confirm the citizenship of voter registrants. Up until now, no single federal database has been able to verify the eligibility for all U.S. citizens, which has spawned various state and federal proposals for burdensome document-based citizenship requirements.

President Donald Trump’s March 25th election integrity executive order creates unfunded mandates for election officials and throws up unnecessary barriers for eligible U.S. citizens to participate in elections – barriers which would disproportionately harm members of the military and their families, as well as married women.

In Arizona, very few voters actually provide physical documents while registering to vote. Instead, election officials use existing state and federal databases to verify citizenship for the vast majority of applicants. This paper discusses how Arizona's proof of citizenship law actually works.

Passage of the SAVE Act (H.R. 22) would place undue burdens on election officials and voters alike. Our team provides an analysis on why this bill would be incredibly detrimental here.