The House voted this week to approve the SAVE Act — legislation that flips the Constitution’s careful design on its head by centralizing election power in Washington.

Cato scholar Walter Olson warns the bill arms the President with dangerous new authority to punish local officials and impose rushed Documentary Proof of Citizenship (DPOC) requirements that go beyond what almost any state has voluntarily chosen. Local administrators could face imprisonment for administrative errors, even when no unqualified person actually registers or votes.

The real threat isn’t widespread noncitizen voting; the evidence simply doesn’t support those alarms. It’s federal overreach that burdens qualified voters and strips states of their constitutional authority over elections.

The solution? Let states experiment with election reforms and learn what actually works. The SAVE Act should return to the drawing board or be dropped entirely.

If you’d like to speak with Olson about this, please contact Madison: mmiller@​cato.​org.