Sharice Davids

Republicans are pushing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in Congress.

The bill would require nationwide voter ID and documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, stated the bill would make it harder for people, particularly women, to vote.

A previous, similar Kansas law was found by courts to have disenfranchised about 30,000 eligible voters.

The only Democrat in the state's congressional delegation suggested Republicans should be embarrassed over the voting legislation they are pushing in Congress.

Republicans are attempting to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. It would require nationwide voter ID — which is already required under Kansas law — while also requiring documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

"We've seen D.C. Republicans pushing for this because they know that they can't win unless they make it harder for people to vote," said U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas. "I would just be embarrassed if I couldn't win unless I was somehow trying to tilt the scales.

"Maybe that's just because I did mixed martial arts and I've had a lot of times that I've competed in my life, but I want to win fair and square. I wish that I had more colleagues that thought that way."

The Capital-Journal asked Davids about the legislation while she spoke to reporters on May 11 while in Topeka to file for reelection.

The bill is known as both the SAVE Act and SAVE America Act — "I'm not sure why they feel like they need to keep rebranding everything," Davids said, in a reference to the rebrand of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The bill has already passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.

"My hope is that our Senate colleagues recognize just how detrimental this piece of legislation would be," she said.

The bill could make it more difficult for married women and others who changed their names to register to vote unless they change their name on their birth certificate or have other acceptable documentation, like a passport.

"I'm very concerned about the SAVE Act because it would make it harder for Kansans to vote," Davids said. "It would make it harder for people across the country to vote, particularly women.

"The fact that you have to have specific types of identification, like a passport. Not everybody has a passport, and a passport costs like $100. So when you think about adding barriers that cost money for people to be able to show up to the polling site to cast their ballot and have their vote counted, I absolutely worry about the impact that that would have."

When Kansas tried a similar state law requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote, courts found that about 30,000 eligible voters were disenfranchised.