Washington, D.C. — Millions of Americans living in nursing homes and other long-term care settings already face enormous barriers to casting a ballot. Getting to a polling place is hard when you depend on others to move you. Finding a mail ballot requires navigating a system that often isn’t designed for people with mobility or cognitive challenges. Now, advocates warn, a federal bill moving through Congress could make voting all but impossible for hundreds of thousands of those residents.
The legislation in question — the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act — would require proof of U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in federal elections. Under the bill, anyone who changes their address, including those moving into a nursing home or assisted living facility, would need to produce a birth certificate, a passport, or naturalization papers before they could register in their new location.
For many long-term care residents, that’s a paperwork wall they can’t climb.
“Many older adults no longer have their original birth certificates, cannot afford or obtain a passport, or face medical and transportation barriers that prevent them from retrieving or replacing these documents,” according to advocates at the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, which has formally opposed the bill. They estimate that the requirement would effectively disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities living in long-term care or receiving home-based services.
A Burden at Every Stage
The bill doesn’t just create a hurdle at the registration stage. It would also require government-issued photo ID that matches the voter’s current name and address for in-person voting — and copies of that ID with any mail-in ballot. For residents whose IDs still list a prior home address, or who use a facility address that doesn’t match their license, the requirements could render their ballots invalid.
Federal law already guarantees that nursing home residents have the same voting rights as any other U.S. citizen. Facilities are supposed to accommodate residents in exercising those rights — helping them request absentee ballots, access voting materials, and get assistance completing their ballot if needed. The SAVE Act’s new document requirements would layer on top of those protections in ways that advocates say undercut them entirely.
It’s not just an administrative inconvenience. More than half of voters with disabilities cast their 2020 ballots by mail. Advocates note that mail voting and accessible voting technology aren’t optional extras for this population — they’re the only realistic path to participation.
Senate Vote Expected Soon
The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in January. The Senate version was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration, and there has been growing pressure from the White House for the Senate to take up the measure. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said recently he would begin moving the bill toward a floor vote.
Consumer Voice is urging long-term care residents, families, and advocates to contact their senators directly and oppose the legislation. Callers can reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
The debate over the SAVE Act arrives amid broader scrutiny of how federal policy affects nursing home residents’ lives and choices. Earlier this month, concerns surfaced about residents’ limited legal recourse when care failures occur, raising fresh questions about whether the protections that are supposed to shield long-term care residents are holding up under pressure.
If the bill becomes law, voting rights organizations have pledged to mount legal challenges — arguing the new requirements conflict with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Help America Vote Act, and other federal statutes that guarantee accessible elections. For now, the fight is in the Senate, and nursing home advocates are watching closely.
