As the U.S. Senate debates the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, legislators need to hear about the ways it would harm people with disabilities. The SAVE Act purports to solve the problem of noncitizens voting illegally, including by requiring proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote, and could restrict mail voting. In fact, while evidence of noncitizens voting is practically nonexistent, people with disabilities face very real voting barriers that the SAVE Act would exacerbate.
According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, people with disabilities are three times more likely to experience difficulties in voting than nondisabled voters. If people with disabilities voted at the same rate as nondisabled voters, there would be about 2 million more voters. Millions of voters with disabilities do not have acceptable identification under the SAVE Act and face disproportionate challenges to obtaining a passport or other documentation. As the National Coalition on Accessible Voting (NCAV) noted in a letter to Congress that CPR joined, more than half of disabled voters vote by mail; proposed restrictions on mail voting would burden and disenfranchise many of them.
We encourage people to contact your legislators as the Senate considers this harmful bill. You can reach the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to ask for your Senators’ offices.