Voting Rights in Wisconsin: Proof of Citizenship under the SAVE Act and Trump’s Executive Order

Wisconsin’s elections are safe and secure. Full stop. Incidents of voter fraud are exceptionally rare, yet inflammatory rhetoric around the country suggests otherwise. On a foundation of hyperbole and baseless fear, Trump-aligned politicians are now trying to establish barriers to the ballot box, imposing obstacles that make it harder for us to exercise our right to vote.

To understand to what extent these national efforts could affect us in Wisconsin, we first need to understand how our current system works.

Wisconsin’s Election Administration System

States administer elections. The federal constitution says so. And different states do this differently. Wisconsin has the most decentralized election administration in the country, placing primary responsibility for election administration on the shoulders of 1,850 municipal clerks. Among myriad other duties, those municipal clerks are statutorily required to report suspected instances of election fraud, irregularities, and violations to both their county district attorneys and the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC). In turn, WEC annually reports that information to the Wisconsin Legislature. Those reports reveal that election fraud of all types is extremely rare.

Wisconsin’s Constitutional Amendments

Yet, some politicians and conspiracy groups continue to fan the flames of suspicion, flooding public discourse with legal “solutions” in search of a problem. Under both state and federal law, voting in state and federal elections is, and has long been, open only to U.S. citizens. But that didn’t stop some politicians from pushing through an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution in November of 2024, over the objections of 20+ voting rights organizations across the state. Voting in Wisconsin requires registration, which itself involves completing a form that, by statute, requires the elector confirm their eligibility to vote, including their U.S. citizenship. (Wis. Stat. §§ 6.27, 6.33) Voting in violation of state and federal law is a crime, exposing the voter to criminal prosecution, fines, imprisonment, and, for any noncitizen who even tries to vote, deportation. (Wis. Stat. §§ 12.13(1), 12.60(1)(a); 18 U.S.C. § 611(b); 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(10)(D) ).

Likewise, in April 2025, voters were asked to enshrine the state voter ID law in the Wisconsin Constitution. The amendment made no substantive change to Wisconsin’s current voter ID statutory requirements—already among the strictest in the nation —but offered proponents the opportunity to again inflate baseless fears of election fraud.

The SAVE Act & Executive Order

Now, Trump-aligned politicians seek to require documentary proof of citizenship in addition to valid photo ID for voter registration. On March 25, 2025, the Trump administration issued an Executive Order that, among other requirements, directs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to update the national mail voter registration form to require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. Under the order, acceptable documentary proof of citizenship means a valid:

● U.S. passport;
● Driver’s license or other state-issued ID satisfying the requirements of the REAL ID Act and indicating the applicant is a U.S. citizen;
● U.S. military ID indicating the applicant is a U.S. citizen; or
● Federal or state government-issued photo ID indicating the applicant is a U.S. citizen or accompanied by other proof of U.S. citizenship.

Under the executive order, when someone registers to vote using the national mail voter registration form (which is not used in Wisconsin), election officials must record what type of citizenship documentation they provided and its issuance and expiration dates. On April 24, 2025, this portion of the executive order was temporarily blocked by a federal court, so EAC is not currently implementing it.

While Trump’s Executive Order is at least partially stymied by pending litigation, Congress is attempting to address the same issue legislatively. Like the executive order, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require that documentary proof of citizenship accompany a national voter registration application. Under the SAVE Act, registering to vote in a federal election would require providing a valid:

● U.S. passport;
● Driver’s license or other state-issued ID satisfying the requirements of the REAL ID Act and indicating the applicant is a U.S. citizen;
● U.S. military ID along with the applicant’s military record of service showing the applicant was born in the United States;
● Federal, state, or tribal government-issued photo ID showing the applicant was born in the United States; or
● Federal, state, or tribal government-issued photo ID that does not show the applicant’s place of birth was the United States, along with one or more of the following:

• A certified birth certificate that, among several other requirements, includes the applicant’s full name and was issued by a state, local government within a state, or tribal government.
• An extract from a U.S. hospital Record of Birth that was created at the time of the applicant’s birth and shows the applicant was born in the United States.
• A final adoption decree showing the applicant’s name and that the applicant was born in the United States.
• A Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a U.S. citizen or a certification of the applicant’s Report of Birth of a U.S. Citizen issued by the U.S. State Department.
• A Naturalization Certificate or Certificate of Citizenship issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or any other documentation of citizenship issued by the federal government.
• An American Indian Card issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with the classification “KIC.”

The SAVE Act would also mandate that each state develop a process for verifying the citizenship of a registering voter who is unable to provide any of the specified documentation. The process must require an applicant to attest under penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen and provide “other evidence” of citizenship that satisfies the election official processing the application for voter registration. And the SAVE Act would require states to proactively ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote, permitting states to remove registered voters from the rolls “based on documentary proof or verified information” that the registrant is not a U.S. citizen.

The SAVE Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 10, 2025. The U.S. Senate has not yet taken any action on the bill.

How would this impact Wisconsin voters?

So, what does this mean for voters? Trump’s Executive Order (if the courts allow it to go into full effect) would not change much here in Wisconsin with respect to election procedure. Wisconsin does not use the national mail voter registration form that the Executive Order directs EAC to modify because Wisconsin is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). And, although Wisconsin had long voluntarily used the national form, a court recently held that form conflicts with state law.

But the SAVE Act provisions requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, as currently drafted, would apply to Wisconsin. Were the SAVE Act to become law, registering to vote (or re-registering because of a name change or a move from one municipality to another) would become far more difficult. For people whose driver’s license does not validate their citizenship (that is, almost all Wisconsinites because Wisconsin REAL ID-compliant licenses do not confirm citizenship ), a driver’s license would no longer be sufficient identification to register to vote. And while there are options for alternative documentation, they are burdensome for many people. Obtaining a current U.S. passport can take months and for some people may be cost prohibitive. How many people have a certified birth certificate within easy reach? And what about people who have changed their names (through marriage or otherwise)? Their birth certificates no longer reflect their current full names, and the SAVE Act is not clear on whether in such circumstances the discrepancy would block voter registration.

Noncitizen voting is already illegal and subject to significant penalties. But the executive order and the SAVE Act, following on the heels of Wisconsin’s superfluous constitutional amendments about voter citizenship and voter ID, create the false impression that noncitizen voting is a widespread problem requiring a government crackdown—action that will certainly disenfranchise lawful voters instead of solving a nonexistent problem.

We should be looking to strengthen our democracy by taking steps that ensure all eligible voters have easy access to participate in elections. We’re a better Wisconsin when democracy includes all of us. Building additional obstacles that make it harder for people to vote is contrary to our fundamental values, our history, and the backbone of our state.

By: Rachel Snyder, Policy Counsel. July 24, 2025.