CONGRESS

House passes the most extraordinary attack on voting rights in American history

In a 220 to 208 vote, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a major voter suppression measure that, if it became law, could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters and badly undermine U.S. democracy.

Along with every Republican, four Democrats — Jared Golden (Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Ed Case (Hawaii) — voted in favor of the bill.

The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome the expected Democratic filibuster.

Should it pass, however, it would instantly make it harder for tens of millions of Americans to vote — mostly groups that have been historically disenfranchised in the voting process. The GOP pursued the SAVE Act under the guise of preventing noncitizens from voting, which they portray as an existential threat to the American electoral system. In fact, it’s extremely rare.

But in their quest to stamp out this nonexistent threat of noncitizen voting, Republicans will instead add major barriers to the ballot box for most people. The bill would require everyone registering to vote or updating their registration information to present documentary proof of citizenship in person.

As many as 21.3 million U.S. citizens — more than 9% of voters — don’t have these documents readily available, and over 3.8 million people — around 2% of voters — don’t have any form of proof, according to recent survey results gathered by the Brennan Center for Justice and other organizations.

This change would disproportionately affect voters of color, millions of people who have taken their spouse’s last name — which includes approximately 69 million married women — and other people who have changed their names, because the law doesn’t specify what documents would be accepted to prove their identity.

Rural voters or people with disabilities would be affected as well, because the measure requires documents to be presented in person, which also undermines mail and online registration systems and voter registration drives.

It’s hard to understate the gravity of the SAVE Act and its potential impact on democracy as we know it. “It’s the most extraordinary attack on voting rights in American history,” Sean Wilentz, a professor of American History at Princeton University, told Democracy Docket. “This is an attempt to destroy American democracy as we know it.”

Alexander Keyssar, a professor of History and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a leading historian of voting rights, told Democracy Docket there’s “never been an attack on voting rights out of Congress like this.”

“It’s always been the federal government trying to keep states in check on voting rights, for the most part,” he said.

For Congress to push a bill like this is a complete 180. Historically, the federal government has worked, albeit imperfectly, to protect and expand voting rights, often in opposition to states and localities that were trying to restrict them.

“Congress has never passed a voter-suppression law like this before,” Sean Morales-Doyle, the director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s voting-rights program, told Democracy Docket. “When it has exercised its power to regulate federal elections, Congress has usually done so to protect the freedom to vote.”

Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates are also sounding the alarm on the SAVE Act.

“In a bold new departure for the forces of voter suppression, MAGA’s so-called ‘SAVE’ Act will make it harder for tens of millions of eligible Americans to vote, including tens of millions of people, mostly women, who change their names after marriage,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Democracy Docket in a statement. “Every eligible voter should be able to access the ballot box, free from legislated intimidation, trickery and harassment.”

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) said in a statement that the SAVE Act “is a threat to our democracy that cannot be ignored.”

“Instead of saving anything, House Republicans are pushing anti-democracy legislation that would purge American voters off the registration rolls and then make it needlessly challenging for millions of Americans to re-register to vote again,” John Bisognano, President of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement. “Every single American voter — in red and blue states — should be alarmed by this attempt to enact extreme voter suppression, and Congress must reject it.” Read more about the SAVE Act here.

NORTH CAROLINA

Justice Allison Riggs is fighting back against the effort to disenfranchise North Carolina voters

It’s been nearly five months since voters in North Carolina cast their ballots in the contentious state Supreme Court race and the election has yet to be certified. That’s because of the ongoing legal effort by Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin to have some tens of thousands of ballots tossed out, with the goal of reversing incumbent Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection.

Last week, a three-judge panel in the North Carolina appeals court moved to disenfranchise the tens of thousands of voters at the center of Griffin’s legal challenge. In a 2-1 ruling, the panel decided that the roughly 65,000 ballots cast in the election would be tossed out, unless voters could fix their registration in 15 days.

Riggs is fighting the ruling and filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court, who temporarily paused the appeals court ruling.

“This does not just affect North Carolina,” Riggs said in an interview with Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias. “This is like dropping a match in a really dry forest. And if we let this kind of anti-democratic effort take hold, we will not be able to contain it. So this is a fight for the very soul of democracy.”

Griffin is challenging the state’s decision to count some 60,000 ballots cast by voters with allegedly incomplete registrations, along with several thousand more ballots by overseas voters who didn’t provide their photo ID with their absentee ballots or by overseas voters who never resided in North Carolina.

Per the appeals court’s ruling, the roughly 60,000 voters with incomplete voter registrations will be given 15 days to fix their ballots, as will military and overseas voters who did not provide proper photo ID. Ballots cast by North Carolina residents who live overseas but have never lived in the state will not be counted.

“Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution,” Democratic judge Toby Hampson wrote in a lengthy dissent.

Hampson noted that the majority’s ruling imposes a remedy on the issue “without thought or care for its impact on the people its decision truly impacts: the voters.” He described a host of scenarios in which people’s vote will be disenfranchised: voters who died since election day, voters who have moved since election day, servicemembers living abroad in unsafe locations who are “unable to jump through the judicial hoops the majority now puts in their way.

“Make no mistake: should the majority’s decision be implemented, the impact will be to disenfranchise North Carolina voters even though they were eligible to vote on election day,” he wrote. Read more about the case here.

OPINION

What We Must Do Now To Win in 2026

After Trump defeated Kamala Harris in Wisconsin by fewer than 30,000 votes in November, the state Supreme Court candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party defeated the GOP- and Elon Musk-backed candidate in a 10-point landslide.

“Democrats have a real opportunity to retake the House and Senate in 2026,” Marc writes in his latest. “As always, that begins with recruiting the best candidates and ensuring they have the resources to run competitive races. There are already positive signs on that front.” Read it here.

NEW EPISODE

Don’t Believe That Trump Will Follow Court Orders | Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse joins Marc to discuss the ongoing influence of dark money in the courts, how the Trump administration is tearing apart the Justice Department and Elon Musk-led threats against judges. Watch on YouTube here.

What We’re Doing

We’re watching The Residence on Netflix — a thrilling new whodunit mystery set in the White House. It’s the perfect (needed?) escape from what's happening in the actual White House, blending comedy and suspense in all the right ways. Plus, the series stars none other than Al Franken, playing a fictionalized version of himself as a Senator. (You can watch Al and Marc's equally thrilling podcast from a few months ago here!)