Four House Democrats voted for the SAVE Act when it first passed the chamber on April 10, 2025: Ed Case of Hawaii, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. When the House passed an expanded version, the SAVE America Act, on February 11, 2026, Cuellar was the only Democrat to vote yes.
The April 2025 Vote
H.R. 22, the original Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, passed the House 220 to 208. Every Republican present supported it, and the four Democrats who crossed over were:1Congress.gov. H.R. 22 Roll Call Vote 102
- Ed Case of Hawaii, who represents urban Honolulu
- Henry Cuellar of Texas, whose district runs along the South Texas border
- Jared Golden of Maine, from the rural Second Congressional District
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, from a swing district in the southwest of the state
The February 2026 Vote
Ten months later, the House took up a broader successor bill, the SAVE America Act (S. 1383), and passed it on a tighter 218-to-213 margin. Cuellar was the sole Democrat to vote yes.2Roll Call. House Passes Revamped Citizenship, Voter ID Bill Case, Golden, and Perez did not join him.3National Association of Counties. House Passes SAVE America Act, Major Impacts on County Election Administration
The 2024 Precursor Vote
A predecessor bill, H.R. 8281, passed the House on July 10, 2024, by 221 to 198 in the prior Congress. Five Democrats supported that version: Cuellar, Golden, Perez, along with Don Davis of North Carolina and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas.4Clerk of the U.S. House. Roll Call 345, H.R. 8281 Davis and Gonzalez did not vote for either 2025 or 2026 version.
Why They Said They Voted Yes
Each of the four Democrats who backed the April 2025 bill gave a public explanation. Their reasoning converged on one idea: only citizens should vote in federal elections, and they viewed the bill’s requirements as reasonable.
Henry Cuellar
Cuellar framed his vote around a single principle. “I support the SAVE America Act because I believe in a fundamental principle: American citizens should decide American elections,” he said.5Laredo Morning Times. South Texas Border Lawmaker Votes for SAVE America Bill He argued that the bill’s photo ID standards mirrored Texas practice and pointed to the affidavit option for applicants who lack documentation. He called the approach one that “protects election integrity while treating eligible voters with fairness and respect.”6KGNS. Cuellar Joins Republicans in House Passage of Voter ID Bill
Ed Case
Case said his vote reflected his view that “most of my constituents believe we should assure that noncitizens do not vote.” He acknowledged that noncitizen voting is already illegal but argued there are “clear gaps in verification across the country based on widely varying individual state requirements.” He called voter-suppression concerns “overstated,” citing separate laws that prohibit using such requirements to deny eligible citizens the vote.7Civil Beat. Ed Case’s Support for Voter ID Was Surrender, Not Compromise
Jared Golden
Golden said “the right to vote in American elections should be exclusive to American citizens” and called the proof-of-citizenship requirement “a simple way to ensure that’s happening across the country.”8Rep. Jared Golden. Golden Votes to Pass Bipartisan SAVE Act In a longer newsletter to constituents, he argued that the documentation requirements are “easy to meet” and comparable to what Mainers already provide for driver’s licenses, Social Security, and Medicare. He pointed to the affidavit option for people without documents and to the bill’s accommodation for name changes from marriage or divorce.9Jared Golden Substack. The SAVE Act and the Right to Vote
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
Perez offered the most hedged support of the four. She said voting is “a sacred right belonging only to American citizens” and that her vote reflected that principle. She also acknowledged that the bill “stands no chance of passage in the Senate due to the filibuster, as well as several deeply flawed provisions,” and she encouraged House leadership to pursue bipartisan alternatives, promoting her own bill, the Let America Vote Act, as a better path.10Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Gluesenkamp Perez Statement on SAVE Act Vote11The Columbian. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Defends Vote in Favor of SAVE Act
What Happened to the Bill
Despite passing the House twice, the SAVE Act did not become law. On June 5, 2026, the Senate voted 48 to 51 to reject it as an amendment to an immigration funding package, well short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.12The Michigan Daily. U.S. Senate Rejects SAVE Act as Amendment in Budget Reconciliation Package13Fox News. Four Senate Republicans Unite With Dems to Block Trump’s SAVE America Act14U.S. Senate. Roll Call Vote 152 Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who had signaled openness to voter ID legislation, called the bill a “show vote” and said he would only support a “clean, standalone” voter ID measure.15Sen. John Fetterman. Fetterman Statement on Voting Against Debate on the SAVE America Act The bill is dead for the current Congress.