WASHINGTON >> The House passed one of Republicans’ signature issues for the year on Thursday, approving legislation to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections, one of President Donald Trump’s top election-related priorities.

Nearly all Democrats lined up against the bill and warned that it risks disenfranchising millions of Americans who do not have ready access to the proper documents.

Trump has long signaled a desire to change how elections are run in the U.S. and last month issued a sweeping executive order that included a citizenship requirement among other election-related changes.

Republicans argued the legislation, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, is necessary to ensure only citizens vote in U.S. elections and would cement Trump’s order into law.

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House committee that handles election legislation, said during Thursday’s debate that the bill is meant to “restore Americans’ confidence in our elections” and prevent noncitizens from voting.

This marks Republicans’ second attempt at passing the SAVE Act. It passed the House last year but failed in the Senate amid Democratic opposition.

60 Senate votes needed

It’s unlikely to fare any better this year. While Republicans won control of the Senate last fall, they have a narrow majority that falls short of the 60 votes they would need to overcome a filibuster.

Republicans hammered on the issue during last year’s presidential election, even though voting by noncitizens is rare, already is illegal and can lead to felony charges and deportation.

The SAVE Act would require all applicants using the federal voter registration form to provide documentary proof of citizenship in person at their local election office. Among the acceptable documents are a valid U.S. passport and a government-issued photo ID card presented alongside a certified birth certificate.

Democrats and voting rights groups warn the legislation could lead to widespread voter disenfranchisement if it were to become law. The Brennan Center for Justice and other groups estimated in a 2023 report that 9% of U.S. citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, do not have proof of their citizenship readily available. Almost half of Americans don’t have a U.S. passport.

In Kansas, a proof-of-citizenship requirement that passed in 2011 ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens in the state who were otherwise eligible to vote. The law was later declared unconstitutional by a federal court and hasn’t been enforced since 2018.

“Just to exercise their inalienable right as citizens of this country, Republicans would force Americans into a paperwork nightmare,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York. “This bill is really about disenfranchising Americans — not noncitizens, Americans.”

Marriage penalty?

A further concern came up several times Thursday: Married women would need multiple documents to prove their citizenship if they have changed their name.

It was a complication that arose in town hall elections held last month in New Hampshire, which was enforcing a new state law requiring proof of citizenship to register. One woman, since divorced, told a local elections clerk that her first marriage was decades ago in Florida and that she no longer had the marriage certificate showing her name change. She was unable to register and vote for her town election.

“This legislation would immediately disenfranchise the 69 million women who have changed their names after marriage or divorce,” said Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat from North Carolina.

Rep. Laurel Lee, a Republican from Florida, said the bill “contemplates this exact situation” of married women whose names have changed, saying it “explicitly directs states to establish a process for them to register to vote.”

Morelle countered by saying, “Why not write it in the bill? Why are we making the potential for 50 different standards to be set? ... How much paperwork do Republicans expect Americans to drown in?”Democrats also said the bill would disproportionately affect older people in assisted care facilities, military service members who wouldn’t be able to solely use their military IDs, people of color and working-class Americans who may not have the time or money to jump through bureaucratic hoops.

“The SAVE Act is everything our civil rights leaders fought against,” said Rep. Nikema Williams, a Democrat from Georgia.