Former NC elections chief: What you should know about the SAVE America Act

Having served as North Carolina’s chief election official for six years, I can confidently say that the SAVE America Act, a bill before Congress that refuses to die despite strong opposition, could jeopardize our state’s ability to hold safe, secure, and accessible elections in 2026 and beyond.

This bill would shift authority from states to the federal government, centralizing control over key aspects of who gets to register and who gets to vote, which could create confusion and chaos for millions of voters and election officials. Sen. Thom Tillis has been one of only a few Republicans with the courage to stand up for voters and block the bill’s passage. While he and I may not always see eye-to-eye on policy, his stance on the SAVE America Act is just common sense. This is why I am calling on Sen. Tillis to stand strong in his opposition to the SAVE America Act — and any other attempt to implement sweeping changes ahead of the midterms — amid growing pressure from President Trump and his party.

The SAVE America Act would significantly restrict key parts of the voting and election process, from registration to voter ID to absentee ballots. It would significantly narrow the forms of voter ID North Carolina voters can use at the polls and require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering or updating their registration. Even a driver’s license or Real ID wouldn’t be enough to register. Obtaining these documents, particularly on such a short timeline, would erect immense barriers to voting.

This would be a major departure from North Carolina’s current voter ID requirements, which were implemented during my administration. Implementing voter ID changes requires educating election officials and voters; establishing processes and procedures for verification, review, and challenges; and funding to facilitate these matters. The SAVE America Act does not provide funding nor time for implementation. Election offices would struggle to train staff to implement these new requirements with their already limited budgets and staffing, and election workers’ ability to register new voters and update existing voters’ registration information would be hindered. To make matters worse, the bill would expose election officials to criminal liability, including prison, simply for doing their jobs. Treating it as such, and penalizing election officials for failing to meet impossible standards, is just plain cruel. There is not a one size fits all solution for how states best verify voters at the polls, which is why our Constitution vests power in the states to determine what is best for their own communities.

More broadly across the nation, these strict requirements could prevent tens of millions of Americans from voting. Voters with disabilities, rural voters, elderly voters, military and overseas voters, and married women who changed their last names would likely feel the effects at disproportionately high rates. These groups encompass Americans who identify as Democrats, Republicans, and independents — with several of these groups leaning Republican.

This is why despite repeated calls from President Trump to pass the SAVE America Act, it appears to have a nearly impossible path through the Senate. Sen. Tillis and a handful of other Senate Republicans are rightfully concerned that enacting this legislation in months before the midterms would be logistically challenging, impose unfunded mandates on election offices, disenfranchise voters, and needlessly undermine confidence in our election system. As Sen. Tillis recently said on the Senate floor: “Folks, I’ve done implementation work. The math doesn’t work.”

The SAVE America Act would bring chaos and confusion to the midterms and have lasting and harmful effects in future elections. I hope that Sen. Tillis will help kill this bill, and that North Carolinians will join me in supporting him for doing so. The true way to protect America’s elections is through congressional legislation that would actually provide sufficient election funding and empower states and election administrators to decide what is best. A state-run election system was a key component of the vision that our Founders laid out in the Constitution, and we must continue to safeguard it today.

Karen Brinson Bell is now a member of Issue One’s Faces of Democracy, which comprises over 70 election officials and poll workers from across the country focused on strengthening U.S. elections.