SAVE Act cosponsor Rand Paul says there’s a path to passage

Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Just The News that the bill he cosponsored, the SAVE Act, now the SAVE America Act, may have a road to passage, but will need some nips and tucks to even get full Republican support.”We have to get all of the Republicans first. I think Republicans are fairly unified on the citizenship part. I think the (prohibition of blanket) mail-in is as important as citizenship, but if we can’t get a coalition on that, you sometimes have to narrow your bill. So I’m not opposed to narrowing the bill if it means we can get it passed. You might be able to get all 53 Republicans and one or two Democrats,” Paul said.
The bill primarily focuses on election integrity but also contains proposed additions, pushed by President Donald Trump and some Republicans via amendments, that would ban transgender minors from receiving sex change surgeries and prohibit biological males from competing in women’s sports. It also contains a provision that would prohibit widespread absentee ballots.
Paul commented on the importance of voting in person, saying, “It’s important to vote in person. Every state that is Republican should fix their voting, particularly Georgia, particularly Arizona, these battleground states. Even in Kentucky, which is a Republican state, I went back and talked with my state legislators and we did fix it. So now in Kentucky, 97 to 98%, maybe even higher, vote in person. It’s a felony to list an incorrect or an invalid reason for why you would want to vote by mail.”
Ongoing concerns about election security amid high levels of immigration
The SAVE America Act, formerly known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, originated as an enhanced version of the original SAVE Act, which required documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration but stalled in the Senate after passing in the House. 
The updated bill was launched in direct response to ongoing concerns about election security amid high levels of immigration, with Trump publicly endorsing the addition of a voter-ID mandate to strengthen the measure and ensure federal elections are decided by U.S. citizens alone.
The core text amends the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 to prohibit states from accepting or processing any federal election voter registration application—including mail, online, or motor-voter forms—unless the applicant provides specific documentary proof of citizenship at the time of application, such as a REAL ID-compliant identification indicating U.S. citizenship, a valid U.S. passport, a military ID paired with birth records, or a government-issued photo ID accompanied by a certified birth certificate, naturalization papers, or equivalent evidence. 
States must also create an alternative process for applicants lacking standard documents, run their voter rolls through the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system on an ongoing basis to identify and remove non-citizens, and require photo identification for in-person voting plus a copy of ID for absentee ballots, with criminal penalties for violations and a private right of action for enforcement.
Current bill mandates in-person-style documentary proof for all new and updating registrants
Republican lawmakers overwhelmingly support the bill, which passed the House on February 11 (218-213, with one Democrat in favor), and is backed by Trump. 
Several GOP-led states have already enacted or advanced nearly identical state-level versions to take effect for upcoming elections. 
In contrast, Democrats and voting-rights organizations have opposed it, arguing it imposes unnecessary federal barriers on a process already governed by state laws and federal affirmations of citizenship.
Compared to past voter-integrity measures, the Save America Act represents a significant fortification. Unlike the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (which required only a driver’s license number or partial Social Security number for database checks) or 1993’s NVRA (which expanded access to registration), it mandates in-person-style documentary proof for all new and updated info on registrants. 
It preempts state flexibility in ways stricter than most existing state voter-ID laws or the limited proof-of-citizenship experiments tried in places like Arizona and Kansas, which faced implementation hurdles and blocked some eligible citizens. 
Earlier iterations of the SAVE framework in 2024 and 2025 followed the same proof-of-citizenship model but lacked the photo-ID and SAVE-system mandates now included, making this version the most sweeping federal election-administration overhaul proposed in decades while still targeting only federal races.
The bill remains under Senate consideration amid filibuster threats, with potential ripple effects on state election systems if enacted.

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