Disability Rights Groups Warn Congress: SAVE Act Bills Would Block Millions From Voting
Plain Language Summary:
Disability and civil rights organizations are calling on Congress to stand against the SAVE Act, SAVE America Act, and MEGA Act. These bills will make it much harder for people with disabilities to vote.
If passed, these bills would:
• Limit vote-by-mail
• Limit who can give help to voters with disabilities
• Require hard-to-get documents, such as passports or birth certificates, to register to vote.
Millions of voters will face new barriers when trying to vote, including:
• Disabled people
• Older adults
• People with limited transportation
• People with limited access to documents
There is no evidence that Election fraud by noncitizens is a widespread problem.
However, there is clear evidence that these policies would block people (who ARE legally eligible) from voting. These polices would conflict with protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Voting Rights Act that have been around for many years.
With major elections approaching, these policies threaten accessible voting and our democracy.
NCAV calls on Congress to reject these policies and protect accessible voting.
How You Can Help
A vote is set to occur the week of February 11th. You can use the American Civil Liberties Union’s action alert to make your opinion on this issue known to your representatives.
Full Statement:
Dear Members of Congress:
The National Coalition on Accessible Voting (NCAV) is a group of civil and disability rights organizations who work together to protect voting access for people with disabilities. The NCAV, comprised of the undersigned organizations, strongly urges Congress to oppose Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (“SAVE”) Act (S. 128/ H.R. 22), SAVE America Act (S. 1383 / H.R. 7296), and Make Elections Great Again (“MEGA”) Act (H.R.7300).
Voting is foundational to our democracy, and our democracy works best when every eligible voter can participate. There are an estimated 40.2 million eligible voters with disabilities in the U.S., representing nearly one-sixth of the total eligible voting population. Already, disabled voters face systemic barriers to participation, including inaccessible polling places, strict voter identification laws, need for and challenges in receiving assistance, and limited transportation making getting to the polls difficult. Research from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has found that disabled voters are three times more likely to face difficulties casting a ballot than nondisabled voters.
The restrictions in the SAVE Act, the SAVE America Act and the Make Elections Great Again Act, such as limiting vote by mail, limiting access to and criminalizing certain voter assistance, and adding burdensome voter registration practices, would restrict the freedom to vote for millions of eligible Americans and increase the barriers that disabled voters face.
These bills would severely limit access to vote by mail, a voting process that people with disabilities rely on. In 2020, over half of disabled people cast their ballot via mail.3 States that allow for easier access to vote by mail, such as permanent absentee voter lists and universal mail voting, saw voter turnout increases among disabled voters.
Mail-in voting helps people with all types of disabilities – across party lines. For example, a wheelchair user in a rural area may not be able to secure accessible transportation to the polls. Crowded polling places may be unsafe and inaccessible to voters who are immunocompromised. A voter with an intellectual disability may prefer to vote from home in order to spend more time reading and understanding the ballot. People experiencing long-term hospital stays or living in nursing homes or other institutions may be unable to leave the facility to vote. These are realities disabled voters face every election. Many disabled people in circumstances like these could no longer be able to participate in our democracy if access to vote by mail is made more difficult.
Additionally, many people with disabilities rely on assistance to complete and return their ballots. For example, a voter whose disability impacts their dexterity may need support to physically mark within the ballot bubbles or handling an absentee ballot envelope. A voter who is blind, low-vision (if they are using a paper ballot and not voting in person on an accessible voting machine), or one has an intellectual or learning disability, may need support to read the ballot. The voter turnout gap between people with and without disabilities jumps from 1.5 percent to 10.6 percent when disabled voters require assistance with daily activities. The MEGA Act would limit who can assist a disabled voter with their mail ballot and criminalize the assistance that many people rely on to cast their ballot. The Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) affirm that voters have the right to receive assistance in all aspects of the voting process, including the right of disabled voters to choose who provides that assistance (with limited exceptions).
Finally, adding requirements that Americans show a passport or birth certificate when registering to vote will prevent millions of eligible citizens from participating in our democracy.
Half of American citizens, 146 million people, do not have a passport, and more than 21 million American citizens don’t have documents, including a passport or birth certificate, readily available. Only about half of American adults have a passport. A recent survey found that 20% of people who self-identified as having a disability do not have a current driver’s license, with another 9% having a license but without their current name and address. Among people without disabilities, around 6% did not have a license, and 13% did not have a license with their current name and address.
Investigations by secretaries of states, universities, nonprofits organizations, and journalists have repeatedly found that noncitizens voting in federal elections is extremely rare and not a systemic issue. In 2025, Louisiana’s Secretary of State announced that following an investigation the office found, “non-citizens illegally registering or voting is not a systemic problem in Louisiana.” Similarly, in a current and ongoing review of voter rolls in Utah, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson noted that they have not found a single instance of a noncitizen voting after several months reviewing 2.1 million people on the state’s voter rolls; thus demonstrating that the existing practices to determine voter eligibility and maintain voter rolls are sufficient.
Additionally, in states where documentary proof of citizenship requirements have been implemented, the process has resulted in eligible voters being unable to participate. In 2025, New Hampshire, town clerks reported having to turn away multiple voters who lacked sufficient documentation. While some voters were able to locate birth certificates and marriage licenses documenting their name change, clerks reported not every voter was able to return. Kansas’ 2011 documentary proof of citizenship voter registration requirement blocked 31,000 eligible citizens from registering to vote and was ultimately struck down by a federal court for violating the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
Federal laws require every part of the voting process to be accessible for disabled voters, from registering to vote to casting a ballot. The new barriers in these bills – limiting vote by mail, criminalizing some voter assistance, and adding burdensome voter registration practices – undermine accessibility, disenfranchise eligible voters, and weaken the foundation of our democracy.
We strongly urge you to oppose these and similar legislative efforts. Thank you for your consideration.
For more information please contact:
National Coalition on Accessible Voting,
Sincerely,
American Association of People with Disabilities
Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL)
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Center for Public Representation
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
National Council on Independent Living
National Disability Rights Network