The last couple of months have brought with them a whirlwind of policy developments that directly impact nonprofits working in the voter engagement space. In the run up to our March 19 webinar “On the Radar: The Save Act, State Laws, & Other Policies Impacting Nonprofits”, here’s a brief rundown of a few of the nonprofit-facing developments that the Nonprofit VOTE team and our peer organizations have been monitoring.
The SAVE Act
What is it?
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, H.R. 22, is a bill in Congress that would require proof of citizenship for registering to vote in any and all federal elections. While seemingly innocuous, the legislation as currently written would mandate that all voters provide in-person, documentary proof of citizenship (Ex. a passport, or a birth certificate in conjunction with a photo ID) when attempting to register to vote or update their voter registration. By requiring proof of citizenship in person, the SAVE Act would effectively end all third-party voter registration drives as well as online voter registration.
This extreme bill is completely unnecessary. Non-citizens are already legally barred from voting in federal elections. Decades of data consistently show that non-citizen voting occurs at statistically insignificant rates, with a 2017 Brennan Center for Justice study finding that election officials identified just 30 instances of potential non-citizen votes in Election 2016, amounting to just 0.0001% of the nation’s total vote count.
What can nonprofits do?
As detailed in our previous blog on the SAVE Act, we’re calling on non-profit leaders to use our Congressional Outreach Tool to write to their members of Congress and ask them to reject the SAVE Act if and when it comes up for another vote in the House. With House leadership aiming to fast-track the act within the next few weeks, the time is now for the nonprofit sector to make their voices heard.
Arizona’s H.B. 2492
What is it?
Signed into law on March 30, 2022, H.B. 2492 required Arizonans registering to vote on federal voter registration forms to not only attest to their citizenship on the form’s citizenship question box, but further mandated a requirement to present proof of citizenship in the form of a driver’s license, US passport, or the last four digits of their Social Security Number – which the federal form does not require. Arizonans who did not present proof of citizenship were to have their applications denied. Similar to the SAVE Act, H.B. 2492’s additional proof of citizenship requirements would impose serious restraints on third-party voter registration efforts
In 2024, H.B. 2492 was struck down by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona as a violation of the National Voter Registration Act provision that bars state and local election officials from rejecting voter registration materials for errors that are not stipulated by the federal government. And last month on February 25, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s ruling.
In response to the Circuit Court’s ruling, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen stated his intention to appeal to the United States Supreme Court, posting on X (formerly Twitter) “Last we checked, the Supreme Court is above the 9th Circuit. We are appealing, yet again, to the Supreme Court and will not stop until Arizona’s proof of citizenship to vote law is upheld.
What can nonprofits do?
At the moment, the ball is in the court of those intending to appeal the 9th Circuit Ruling and/or the Supreme Court itself. That said, we would encourage anyone interested in this case to connect with and support the nonprofits who stepped up to challenge H.B. 2429, including Voto Latino, Poder Latinx, and Mi Familia Vota.
Federal Grant Pause
What is it?
On January 27, the Trump Administration announced via a memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that it would be instituting a freeze for an undetermined length of time on nearly all federal grants previously allocated by Congress and the last administration. This freeze included billions of dollars in federal grants earmarked for nonprofits.
The move prompted a legal challenge in the U.S. district court by the National Council on Nonprofits (NCN). On February 3, the U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan instituted a temporary restraining order on the Trump administration’s attempted freeze. The order specifically barred the Trump administration from implementing the freeze in any capacity and further instructed all federal agencies to release any and all disbursements that were frozen as a result of the OMB memo.
Judge AliKhan went on to expand the restraining order again on Feb 25 by instituting a preliminary injunction while the appeals process continues to play out.
What can nonprofits do?
In spite of the court rulings, some nonprofits have reported that their federal funding streams have not yet been fully restored. With this in mind, we advise nonprofits to move swiftly to ensure they receive the maximum amount of any federal funding which has already been awarded. If you are a nonprofit receiving federal funds, please reach out to your grant administrators to ensure the arrival of any pending disbursements and to inquire whether or not you can receive an advance payment on any outstanding grants.
For a full picture on the SAVE Act and additional state-based voting law updates, make sure to RSVP for “On the Radar: The Save Act, State Laws, & Other Policies Impacting Nonprofits”.
