If this past year has taught us anything, it is that if you want to make real change in politics, nationwide or in your state, you have to vote. However, for those who don’t have readily accessible documents proving citizenship or rely on mail-in ballots, such as UA students, recent legislation has the potential to put their votes at serious risk.
Earlier this month, the House passed the SAVE America Act, a piece of legislation that President Donald Trump has proposed in his plan to reorganize the American voting system as we know it. This act outlines Trump’s plan to “nationalize” elections through stricter voter identification and require voters to present their physical birth certificate or passport in person, alongside their Real ID.
The bill will almost certainly stall in the Senate, as Democrats are expected to filibuster it. Even still, the suggested changes are concerning. It would overrule state voter laws and is, truthfully, inequitable, targeting marginalized communities under the guise of more secure elections.
In the past year, Trump has made his opinion on our current voting legislation very clear, and went as far as to condemn mail-in voting as dishonest and vow to dismantle this system for the 2026 midterm elections. As for his concerns about illegal voting, they have been dismissed. Seeing as noncitizen voting is extremely rare and already considered a criminal offense, this raises the question of exactly who these laws are meant to protect when all they appear to do is harm.
The bill has the potential to hurt the nearly 21.3 million eligible voters who do not have readily accessible documents that prove their citizenship. This includes women whose birth certificates do not match the name they took on in marriage, transgender individuals who have since changed their preferred name, citizens who don’t own a passport and college students who are away from home and may not have access to their birth certificate or passport.
As seen in elections this past year, the younger generation has the power to swing votes in a major way. When this group of people is suddenly unable to reach the polls, their voices will not be fairly represented, threatening the heart of our democracy. The constitutional right to vote has already been established, so why is the country now trying to infringe on it?
The most worrisome part of this legislation is that it is not the end. On Jan. 29, Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil introduced the Make Elections Great Again Act, which is an even more intrusive “reform” that will further restrict the necessities to vote. Under this act, mail-in ballots would undergo serious restrictions, such as a complete ban on universal votes by mail.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has already come out in support of the MEGA Act, saying that, if passed, it would strengthen election security and increase voter confidence.
However, the statistics of the Alabama population beg to differ. In Alabama, as of 2024, only 27.7% of citizens have a valid passport, and approximately 1.2 million Alabama women do not have a birth certificate that matches their name. It is a disservice to the people of Alabama to not only encourage this legislation but to mislead them into supporting their own disenfranchisement.
There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting American citizens to vote in American elections. Even so, there is something obviously wrong when acts created under the guise of protection are disproportionately affecting certain groups of people. The SAVE and MEGA Acts are two pieces of legislation that potential voters should be looking out for, including college students. As young adults, now is the time to gather all necessary information and documents to ensure your voice and your vote are not silenced.
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