Proposed SAVE Act Could Jeopardize Voting Rights Of Black Elders Who Lack Birth Records

Older Black Americans without an official birth certificate or passport could lose their right vote.

Black elders in America without proper birth records could potentially lose their voting rights if a new bill passes.

The proposed legislation, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) Act, would require individuals to present proof of citizenship when voting. The GOP-supported bill has garnered pushback from Democratic lawmakers over claims of voter disenfranchisement, especially for Black communities.

If the GOP-controlled House and Senate pass the bill, many voting-eligible Americans would face stricter restrictions on exercising their right. If they wished to vote, they would need to show a birth certificate or passport. However, many older Black Americans lack such records, causing concern for voting rights advocates, according to Capital B News.

For many, growing up in rural American communities meant there were no nearby hospitals to deliver babies. Instead, Black mothers gave birth with the help of midwives, with records for documenting new life frequently written down in a family Bible.

Doctors were seldom available and expensive, with families opting for home births. However, this left many older Black people without official documentation of their citizenship.

The SAVE Act’s voting requirements shed light on inequitable healthcare systems that led to this uneven birth certificate access. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities confirmed that one-fifth of Black Americans born between 1939 and 1940 never received proper birth certificates.

Now, around 21 million voting-age Black Americans could lose their ability to vote over this lack of citizenship. For those without a knowledge or record of a birth certificate, passports are also an unfavorable alternative to voting.

The U.S. Department of State data, detailed by Rustic Pathways, confirmed that only around 45-50% of Americans have a U.S. passport. Given monetary and legal barriers to obtaining these travel documents as well, this secondary way of proving one’s citizenship will not help many Black elders exercise their voting rights.

The possible signing of the SAVE Act would also vastly shift voter registration efforts, a pillar of Black communal advocacy for political change. If approved, the SAVE Act would require new verification, limiting the capabilities of registering new voters.

While GOP supporters claim the legislation will crack down on noncitizen voting, the Brennan Center for Justice has emphasized that the issue is more myth than fact. Democratic lawmakers have already called out the measure as a modern way of restricting Black people’s voting rights.

“It’s Jim Crow 2.0,” shared Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to MS Now’s Morning Joe in February. “What they’re trying to do here is the same thing that was done in the South for decades to prevent people of color from voting.”

Black elders, many of whom have fought before for voting rights in the past, may now face another barrier on the horizon. However, states and advocacy groups have already begun the work to expand voter protections to prevent disenfranchisement ahead of the midterm elections.