Jim Crow 2.0?

On Wednesday, the House passed a sweeping Republican-backed bill that will add major hurdles to how millions of people vote.

The GOP has rebranded its signature voting bill as the SAVE America Act in response to President Donald Trump's demands to address the nation’s unfounded problem with “rigged” elections.

"America’s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World," Trump wrote on social media. "We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a Country any longer. I am asking all Republicans to fight for the following: SAVE AMERICA ACT!"​

As ABC News and various other experts and news outlets have noted, there has been no credible evidence of mass fraud or substantiated claims that U.S. elections are being rigged.

The bill will require voters to show photo ID at the polls, sharply limits who can vote by mail, and force states to collect hard proof of U.S. citizenship before anyone can register for a federal election.

That means just having a standard driver’s license may not be enough if it doesn’t confirm citizenship.

“The Republicans’ amended version of the SAVE Act that passed in the House is nothing more than an effort to undermine the right to vote ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, said U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and other members, in a statement. “The SAVE Act is not an election security bill — it is a voter suppression bill, full stop.”

Historically, I.D. requirements have disproportionately harmed marginalized communities the most. During the Jim Crow era, many Black people, who are now elders, were denied access to certain hospitals, and many were never given a birth certificate, as Democracy Docket points out.

Roughly 21% of Black Americans and 23% of Hispanic Americans do not have access to a Driver’s License. This is compared to 8% of white Americans.​ Clarke also pointed out that this latest effort could impact Black voters, especially.

“This bill, which would impose nationwide proof-of-citizenship and strict photo ID requirements, would undermine our election system while making it harder to vote for millions of eligible U.S. citizens — disproportionately Black and minority voters and women.”

For those who’ve recently changed their name—like married women or LGBTQ+ people—registering to vote could easily become a challenge.​

“It will make it so that people in this country who have every right to vote can’t vote, and for no good reason,” said Hannah Fried, co-founder and executive director of All Voting is Local, a voting rights organization, in 2025 (when discussion around the bill began). “We don’t need this hurdle. Only citizens are voting in this country. We have other checks and balances, and this is just a demonstrably unnecessary piece of legislation.”

States would also have to comb through voter rolls and remove noncitizens using data from agencies like the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

On Election Day, voters without a qualifying photo ID would have to either prove citizenship or give the last four digits of their Social Security number before receiving a ballot.

Trump and top Republicans insist these steps are needed to stop noncitizens from voting and to restore trust in the system ahead of the 2026 midterms.

But multiple audits and experts say noncitizen voting is extremely rare; in Georgia, a review before the 2024 elections found just 20 noncitizens on a list of 8.2 million voters, and only nine had actually cast a ballot. There is still no credible evidence of widespread election fraud or rigged national results.

Data doesn’t lie. The real impact of the SAVE America Act will fall on low-income and marginalized voters who already face barriers to getting government IDs. This bill makes it harder for registered, legal voters to cast a ballot. It’s not just some burdensome extra paperwork; it’s the definition of voter suppression.

Although the bill passed by a narrow 220-208 vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the bill would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate.

"The Republicans' SAVE Act reads more like a how-to guide for voter suppression. It goes against the very foundations of our democracy," Schumer said. "Mark my words: This will not pass the Senate."