BEHIND THE NEWS:

If passed, SAVE act could create challenges, confusion for Nevada voters

A sign on Highway 374 (Daylight Pass Road) from Beatty gives notice of the closure of Scotty's Castle in Death Valley National Park Thursday, May 2, 2019. Photo by: Steve Marcus

Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026 | 2 a.m.

Editor’s note:* “Behind the News” is the product of Sun staff assisted by the Sun’s AI lab, which includes a variety of tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT.*

The U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation Feb. 11 that would require Americans to produce documentary proof of United States citizenship before they can register to vote in federal elections — a measure supporters call a commonsense election safeguard but critics say is thinly disguised voter suppression that could disenfranchise millions of eligible citizens ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The legislation, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, passed 218-213, with no Republican voting against it and nearly all Democrats voting in opposition. [1] President Donald Trump has championed the measure. It now moves to the Senate, where it faces a 60-vote filibuster threshold and uncertain prospects despite a promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune for a floor vote. [4]

What is the SAVE Act?

The SAVE Act — introduced originally by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas — amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to mandate that states cannot register anyone to vote in federal elections unless, at the time of application, that person provides documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. [1]

The version passed by the House this month, styled the “SAVE America Act,” goes further than an earlier House-passed version from April 2025. It includes both the documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement at registration and a national photo ID requirement at the ballot box on Election Day — an addition that voting rights groups say makes it one of the most burdensome voter ID mandates ever proposed at the federal level. [4]

Existing federal law already bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and all federal voter registration forms already require applicants to attest to citizenship under penalty of perjury. [5] But Republicans, led by Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have argued that the bill is a necessary backstop against what they describe as potential noncitizen infiltration of the voter rolls.

“Ensuring the integrity of elections is an essential issue, it’s essential to maintaining our constitutional republic,” Johnson said atfer the vote. [3]

How would a voter prove citizenship?

Under the act, acceptable forms of documentary proof of citizenship include:

• A Real ID-compliant identification card that specifically indicates U.S. citizenship (currently available in only five states — Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington)
• A U.S. passport or passport card
• A birth certificate accompanied by a government-issued photo ID
• A Naturalization Certificate or Certificate of Citizenship issued by the Department of Homeland Security
• An American Indian Card issued by DHS with the classification “KIC” [1][7]

A standard Nevada driver’s license or Real ID, even one that complies with federal Real ID standards, would not qualify, because those documents indicate lawful residence — not citizenship. Nevadans holding such a license who wanted to register or update their registration for federal offices would also need a passport or a birth certificate to be accepted. [11]

Only about 43% of Americans have passports, according to an analysis by the Voting Rights Lab. [8]

For voters whose names do not match their documents — a common situation for married women who changed their surnames — additional documentation such as a marriage certificate would be required. Up to 69 million American women changed their names after marriage and therefore would need supplemental paperwork. [8]

Critically, the act also requires that proof of citizenship be presented in person to the appropriate election official. The Brennan Center for Justice says that effectively eliminates mail-based and online voter registration for most people. In 2022, more than 7 million Americans registered to vote by mail and more than 11 million registered online. [9]

If the act passes, election officials who register an applicant without proper documentation face criminal penalties, even if the applicant is in fact a U.S. citizen. Private citizens may also sue election officials under the same circumstances, a provision critics say will lead to overly cautious enforcement and further strain an already overburdened election workforce. [2]

Where must the proof be presented in Nevada?

In Nevada, voter registration is administered at the county level, not the city level. County clerk offices are the designated election authorities responsible for processing registrations. For example, a resident of Pahrump cannot simply walk into any city building or post office — they must present citizenship proof to a Nye County Clerk’s Office.[23]

Nye County has two clerk’s offices that handle election administration: one at 101 Radar Road in Tonopah and one at 1520 E. Basin Ave. in Pahrump. [22]

This is a significant logistical challenge in a county that is the third-largest by land area in the contiguous United States, stretching across a vast, sparsely populated expanse of central and Southern Nevada with small, isolated communities separated by long stretches of open desert highway.

How far would rural Nye County residents have to travel?

The geographic reality of Nye County illustrates what voting rights advocates say is the law’s disparate impact on rural Americans.

• Beatty — a small gateway community of roughly 1,000 residents near Death Valley National Park — is approximately 94 miles from the Tonopah clerk’s office via U.S. Highway 95 (about 1 hour, 30 minutes one way) and approximately 73 miles from the Pahrump office (about 1 hour, 10 minutes one way). [24]
• Amargosa Valley — an unincorporated desert community located about 35 miles northwest of Pahrump — is the closest of the four communities to a Nye County election office, at roughly 44 miles from the Pahrump clerk’s office (about 40 to 50 minutes one way).
• Gabbs — a remote mining community in northern Nye County — is approximately 110 miles from the Tonopah clerk’s office by road via Nevada Route 361, a drive of more than two hours one way. [26]
• Round Mountain — a small town about 45 miles north of Tonopah as the crow flies — is roughly 60 miles by road from the Tonopah clerk’s office, about an hour way.

Is it voter suppression?

Critics and voting rights groups have not minced words in calling the SAVE Act a voter suppression tool dressed up as election security.

The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that more than 21.3 million voting-age Americans — roughly 1 in 10 — do not have documentary proof of citizenship readily available. People of color, the elderly, young voters, rural residents, married women and tribal communities are disproportionately represented in that group. [7][8]

Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson put it bluntly: “They are trying to take something that we all agree on — that only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections — and use that to make it harder for millions of eligible citizens to cast their vote.” [8]

The Campaign Legal Center notes the bill would also mandate frequent voter purges based on data it describes as error-prone, and would require every state to submit its voter registration list to the Department of Homeland Security — with no restrictions placed on how the federal government could subsequently use that data. [9]

The Bipartisan Policy Center acknowledged the bill’s stated goal while concluding that noncitizen voting is “few and far between.” Utah, for example, conducted a citizenship review of its entire voter registration list from April 2025 through January — more than 2 million registered voters — and identified one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting. Nationwide, records from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program show only 0.04% of voter verification cases are returned as noncitizens. [2]

The nonpartisan gray TV outlet reporting on the bill’s House passage noted that 77 cases of noncitizen voting had been documented over 24 years, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. [3]

With Democrats widely expected to make gains in the 2026 midterms as the out-of-power party — and with Nevada holding several competitive congressional races — voting rights advocates argue the timing of the legislation is not coincidental. They contend it is an attempt to reduce voter participation, particularly in urban areas, among younger voters and within minority communities, before an election cycle that could shift the balance of power in the House. [27, 28]

The Nevada context

Nye County is part of Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, long represented by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., who announced Feb. 6 that he would not seek reelection, leaving the seat open for a competitive 2026 race. [29]

The Nevada Current warned that a conflict between the SAVE Act and Nevada’s own proposed voter ID ballot measure — Question 7, which requires a government-issued photo ID at the polls and is expected to be on the 2026 ballot again — could create legal and administrative chaos. Under the SAVE Act, a Nevada Real ID would not satisfy federal citizenship requirements, meaning voters at the polls with a state-compliant ID could still be barred from casting ballots in federal races including for Congress and president. [11]

“If the government is going to make eligibility contingent on paperwork, then the government must be the one to deliver that paperwork at no cost and in a predictable, timely way,” the Nevada Current wrote in an analysis of the bill’s implications. “Without that, you’re not securing elections — you’re gating them.” [11]