Felice Fein: The SAVE America Act, and why Pennsylvania needs it, Part 1
This is the first of a two-part essay. The second part will be published on Monday.
The SAVE America Act will be brought to the floor of the U.S. Senate this week. While many talk about ending the filibuster or allowing a filibuster to proceed, there is no doubt that most Americans agree with the substance of the bill: proof of citizenship to register and ID to vote. Pennsylvanians have very specific reasons to support the SAVE America Act.
What are the real polling numbers on the issues of voter ID and proof of citizenship prior to registration? Is Governor Shapiro supportive of the SAVE America Act? Why do the issues matter in Pennsylvania? Let’s find out.
Nearly all the major polling organizations have polled on the issues of proof of citizenship to register and voter ID. They all have the same results: Americans want to provide a form of government identification when they vote and believe citizenship should be proven, not just trusted. This is not a new phenomenon as some of these polls date back four years! Here are a few:
Rasmussen Reports:
March 8-10, 2026 – survey shows that 63 percent of likely U.S. voters support passage of the SAVE Act that requires proof of citizenship.
Gallup:
July 5-26, 2022 – survey shows that 79 percent of Americans support requiring identification to vote at polling places.
October 1-12, 2024 – survey shows that 84 percent of Americans support voter ID at the polling place, up 5 points in two and a half years. In addition, 83 percent of those polled supported requiring proof of citizenship at the time of registering to vote.
Pew Research:
August 4-10, 2025 – survey shows that 83 percent of those polled support showing government ID to vote. That number is up from 76 percent in 2018.
On February 12, 2026, Governor Josh Shapiro vehemently opposed the passage of the SAVE America Act, claiming the purpose of the act is to nationalize elections. In his comments, Gov. Shapiro correctly says that elections are run by the counties and states. He praises the work of election offices throughout the commonwealth as well as the work of his Secretary of State, Al Schmidt.
What he slyly omits in his comments is the fact that states must follow federal law in overseeing the election process. One such federal law that Pennsylvania is supposed to follow is the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA). HAVA provided federal grants to modernized election infrastructure after the 2000 hanging chad incident. It required statewide voter registration databases and created national standards around certain election practices. If states didn’t have to follow federal election law, then why did Pennsylvania engage in all the HAVA modernization requirements?
There are several reasons Pennsylvanians should want the SAVE America Act to be signed into law. Here the top three:
PA Department of State Guidance & Directive
Section 303(a)(5) of HAVA is a section titled, “Verification of Voter Registration Information,” which requires applicants to provide a valid driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security numbers on the voter registration application. Further, HAVA requires the state to compare the number provided with either PennDOT or the Social Security Administration.
Pennsylvania updated procedures in implementing HAVA but soon found that “the Department’s policies and procedures appear to require the rejection of voter registration applications solely on the basis that the information submitted by the applicant failed to match information contained in the database of the Social Security Administration or on driver’s license records.”
Since HAVA doesn’t require the successful match of driver’s license or social security numbers, on August 9, 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of State issued guidance telling county election offices that mismatch of identifying numbers is not a reason to reject a voter registration application.
In case that wasn’t clear enough for all counties, in 2018 the Department of State issued a directive regarding HAVA-matching drivers’ licenses and social security numbers for purposes of voter registration. The directive states:
“This Directive underscores that Pennsylvania and federal law are clear that voter registrations may not be rejected based solely on a non-match between the applicant’s identifying numbers on their application and the comparison database numbers.”
For the last 20 years Pennsylvania has registered voters whose personal identifying numbers do not match state or federal databases.
Governor Shapiro says that we have “free and fair and safe elections.” Really? What could possibly go wrong?
Illegal Immigrant Charged with Voting in Pennsylvania Elections
On March 9, 2026 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Mahady Sacko, an illegal alien who was ordered deported by an Appeals Court in 2002. While living in Philadelphia, Mr. Sacko registered to vote on August 24, 2006 using a paper registration form where he claimed to be a U.S. citizen. According to FBI Special Agent Mickel McGann’s Affidavit, between August 24, 2006 and August 1, 2024, Mr. Sacko registered to vote a total of 12 times using paper forms, online registration, and PennDOT. Each time he claimed to be a U.S. citizen by checking a box. Voter records show that he voted in the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 general elections as well as the 2016 and 2020 primaries.
Mr. Sacko’s vote in those federal elections diluted the votes of true U.S. citizens. That certainly doesn’t seem very “fair” or “safe.” How many more Mahady Sacko’s are voting in Pennsylvania elections?
United States of America v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
As we at Keystone Fair Business Partners reported on September 30, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested Pennsylvania’s complete voter rolls from Secretary of State Al Schmidt. The DOJ wanted everything in the database including drivers’ license and social security numbers for each registered voter. However, Al Schmidt refused to provide anything more than publicly accessible information to the DOJ. As a result, the DOJ filed suit against the Commonwealth and Al Schmidt on September 25, 2025.
To date, multiple organizations have filed to intervene on behalf of the Commonwealth including the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans. America First Policy Institute filed to intervene on behalf of the United States of America. The Commonwealth moved to dismiss itself as a party to the case, which was granted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The DOJ on January 29, 2026 filed a motion to transfer the case to the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Given the commonwealth’s guidance and directive on voter registrations, we now better understand why the DOJ wants to see exactly who is listed on the Pennsylvania voter rolls. The SAVE America Act would stop any more non-citizens from registering and voting in American elections.
Americans overwhelmingly want voter ID to be the law of the land in every state.
It is clear that the intention of the HAVA regulations regarding drivers’ license and social security checks was to ensure a match between the voter registration applicant’s number and that of the state or federal agency. Pennsylvania’s interpretation of HAVA strains credulity, as they seem to have found a legal loophole to allow the state to register anyone who requests it. As a result, it is very likely that over the last 20 years many non-citizens have registered to vote and impacted Pennsylvania elections.
Given the millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the U.S. border during the last presidency and the very real chance of at least some of them voting in Pennsylvania elections, checking a box to assert citizenship when registering to vote is not good enough. Proving citizenship isn’t a problem for U.S. citizens, only non-citizens. The question is … why are so many senators and congressmen so opposed to the idea?
Voter ID at the polls and proof of citizenship when registering to vote isn’t an option; it’s a necessity if we ever want to have confidence in any Pennsylvania election in the future.
Felice Fein is the Executive Director of Keystone Fair Business Partners, a 501c6 membership organization supporting the shared interests of its members as it educates southeastern Pennsylvania with facts about issues and policies that impact local businesses and families.
