Trump’s ‘SAVE America Act’ Could Make it Impossible for Some Trans People to Vote
The bill, which already passed the House, would force all voters to present a matching ID & birth certificate or a passport. Thanks to Republicans, many trans Americans can’t meet these conditions.
Last week, amid the Trump administration’s broader push to police voter rolls ahead of the 2026 midterms, the House of Representatives passed a sweeping voter ID bill. The bill, known as the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” or simply the “SAVE America Act,” would implement strict, nationwide identification requirements for any American seeking to register to vote.
In order to satisfy these requirements, a person must present either a valid US passport, an enhanced driver’s license (only issued by a handful of states), a military ID card, or a state driver’s license/ID card when registering. However, if a person presents the latter, it must be accompanied by—and match exactly with—a US birth certificate or certificate of naturalization.
This idea is problematic for several reasons. As has been extensively reported, if passed, the SAVE America Act will disproportionately burden the approximately 70 million married women who took their spouse’s surname without updating their birth certificates. Although it’s true that any potential issues can be avoided by using a passport, only ~50% of Americans actually have one. And while the bill does provide for “a process” under which a name discrepancy can be resolved, those who have to go through it will face delays that may ultimately keep some people from voting.
As a result, married women will need to plan ahead and register multiple months in advance to ensure their votes are counted. But it is achievable. However, for many trans people—especially those that haven’t been allowed to legally change their name and/or gender on all of their documents—the bill’s requirements will be virtually impossible to satisfy.
Over the past few years, the number of states that have eliminated trans people’s ability to amend their birth certificates has ballooned to 8—a list that includes two of the three most populous states in the US, Texas and Florida. However, only 5 of those currently extend those restrictions to IDs as well, meaning that a few states are intentionally creating mismatches between trans people’s documents.
There’s also the possibility that a trans person born in a restrictive state has moved to one of the 32 states where gender marker changes on IDs are fairly straightforward. In this case, their birth certificate again wouldn’t match their ID. The same is also true for those who were born in a Democratic-led state but live in one of the few where ID changes are restricted.
And there are also scenarios where a state will refuse to honor a trans person’s name change, too. For the past year and a half, the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issues IDs in the state, has refused to accept court orders for a combined name and gender change altogether—creating yet another way a mismatch may occur.
While a passport would remedy this issue in theory, trans people face significant challenges when applying for one. And this is intentional. Since the Supreme Court allowed Trump to implement his passport policy in early November, the State Department has been enforcing it with impunity. Every applicant is rigorously checked for any discrepancies in sex markers at any point, and, if the person’s “biological sex” is unable to be determined, the State Department will request extra information from the applicant.
At this point, the applicant will likely need to submit additional records, and once they do, it’ll take approximately a month for the passport to be issued. It’s also possible that the State Department will deem the evidence unsatisfactory and deny the application altogether. Trump has also separately reduced the amount of passport application acceptance facilities, placing another barrier on acquiring a passport.
And even for the trans Americans who were able to get a passport prior to the implementation of the policy, there’s still a slim chance that the Trump administration will take action against those passports. Back in November, the Department of State’s website was updated to claim that passports that do not list someone’s “sex at birth” could be “invalidated under federal regulations.” Although that threat has since been walked back, the possibility cannot be entirely discounted.
In fact, one state is seriously considering doing something similar. In the coming days, Kansas Republicans will vote on whether to override Gov. Kelly’s veto of a bill that will revoke all IDs that display anything other than the holder’s “biological sex.” Because the bill passed by a supermajority the first time around, it’s almost certain that these extreme restrictions will be implemented.
While conflicting sex markers typically are inconsequential when proving identity, that isn’t the case here. The SAVE America grants immense discretion to individual states over what qualifies as a mismatch, enabling them to seek “additional documentation…in the event of a discrepancy with respect to the applicant’s documentary proof of United States citizenship.”
Because of the vagueness of the clause, state election officials will be able to weaponize any gender marker inconsistencies against trans voters. They could delay applications, force trans people to provide sensitive medical records, and even deny some the ability to register altogether. And it will be 100% legal for them to do so.
That said, there is some good news: so far, Democrats have mostly held firm in their opposition to the bill. Trump-pardoned South Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar was the lone Democrat to vote for it in the House, and as of right now, only one Democratic senator, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, has called for its passage. At the same time, moderate Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski actually spoke out against the bill. As such, for it to reach the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold, it needs to gain the support of 7 more Democrats, which is highly unlikely.
But make no mistake: the SAVE America Act will allow the disenfranchising of countless trans Americans. If this year’s elections are to be a fair fight, Senate Democrats must hold firm in opposing its passage. The United States’ democracy depends on it.
Now I understand why Henry Cuellar votes the way he does. I didn't know Trump had pardoned him.
This is their goal, conservatives want trans people to be in a state of disenfranchisement and effectively non-citizens through paperwork administrative burdens.