Senator Shelley Moore Capito continued to emphasize her support for the SAVE America Act, which represents an acronym for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility.
The legislation would require voters to show approved photo identification to vote in federal elections and proof of citizenship to register.
“This is just common sense. It’s accountability,” Capito, R-W.Va., said in a briefing with reporters today.
“Most of it is what we already do in West Virginia. It’s voter ID, which we already have in West Virginia. It’s also a proof of citizenship that you’re voting. I think that West Virginians, in great numbers, would say that’s common sense.”
Senate Republicans opened debate on Tuesday about the SAVE America Act. The Senate vote to open debate was itself narrow, 51-48, with Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, joining Democrats in opposition.
The debate is expected to last for days, and there’s a parallel debate over the Senate filibuster because the election bill is unlikely to be able to cross that hurdle in a chamber where Republicans have just a 53-47 majority. Sixty votes are necessary to end debate and move toward final votes.
“I intend to to vote to move forward,” Capito said, “but we don’t think we’re going to get 60 votes.”
League of Women Voters has repeatedly expressed staunch opposition to the SAVE Act.
The organization argues the policy measures are unnecessary because non-citizen voting is already illegal and very rare, while the new provisions would disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans who could have trouble accessing the ID requirements.
Specifically, the organization contends the bills disproportionately burden military families, natural disaster survivors, and women who have changed their names.
The organization also contends the mandates could lead to unconstitutional federal overreach and the use of unreliable databases to purge legitimate voters.
“The SAVE America Act represents federal overreach into the Constitution’s provisions granting states the responsibility for running elections,” said Judy Ball, co-president of League of Women Voters of West Virginia.
Ball noted that in 2025, the West Virginia Legislature enacted a bill to require photo ID to vote. The organization opposed that bill because of its likely effects on already-low voter participation.
She said citizenship is already a requirement to vote, and violations are vanishingly rare.
“In fact, many eligible citizens don’t have documentary proof of citizenship. This could be a particular problem in West Virginia where few citizens have passports. Plus, acquiring passports is difficult and expensive. For voting, we believe that equates to a poll tax, which the U.S. Constitution already prohibits,” Ball said.
Capito drew a distinction between identification to vote at the polls, which could be a regular drivers license, and proof of citizenship when registering, which would require additional documents like Social Security card, a passport, birth certificate or military ID.
The senator described an off-ramp for people who can’t easily produce documents. In that case, voters could sign an attestation that they are U.S. citizens, with a witness at the Division of Motor Vehicles or clerk’s office, and there would be penalties for lying.
“We have make sure that we have the certainty that our elections are safe and secure, and that Americans who need to vote or want to vote are the ones that actually are voting and legitimately,” Capito said.