EAC Comment in Opposition to DPOC Requirement
In July, anti-voter group America First Legal Foundation (AFL) submitted a petition for rulemaking to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), requesting the EAC amend the federal voter registration form to require Americans to show a passport or other citizenship documents when registering to vote. These show-your-papers requirements create unnecessary barriers that are particularly hard on students, among other communities. Fair Elections Center is submitting this comment to oppose adding barriers to voter registration. As expressed in our comment, Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) should not—and cannot—make the changes to the national mail voter registration form to add a show your papers proof requirement to register to vote as requested in the Petition for Rulemaking submitted by America First Legal. Such changes would violate federal laws.
Specifically, adopting a DPOC requirement would plainly contradict prior EAC decisions, as well as responses to prior requests from states to add a DPOC requirement to their state instructions on the Federal Form. EAC declined to establish documentary proof requirements for naturalization and citizenship respectively because it was not necessary to validate the eligibility of an applicant and would not serve any additional election security purpose than a citizenship attestation requirement alone. Critically, the EAC should decline to add this requirement now because it will disenfranchise many of the millions of otherwise eligible voters in the United States who lack access to DPOC.
Louisiana Intimidation of Naturalized Voters
HB 554 would intimidate naturalized Louisiana voters and make it harder for many of them to vote.
National Mail Voter Registration Form Comment
In April of 2025, Fair Elections Center submitted a comment to the Election Assistance Commission, urging the commission to avoid making changes outlined in the President’s Executive order, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” to the national mail voter registration form. Making these changes would, FEC noted, would violate the NVRA and the Administrative Procedure Act.
Florida Omnibus Anti-Voter Bill
HB 1381 is an omnibus (multi-issue) anti-voter bill which among other things adds documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, shortens the list of accepted voter IDs for voting including taking student ID off the list, adds harmful data sharing and list maintenance provisions, and adds a requirement of marking citizenship status on driver licenses & identification cards.
Maryland Automatic Restoration of Voter Registration for Individuals Released from State Correctional Facilities (2025)
Fair Elections Center supports Maryland HB 1110, which would streamline the registration process for individuals with a felony conviction after being released from incarceration by requiring state
agencies to collaborate to provide automatic restoration of their pre-existing voter registration upon release from incarceration.
SAVE Act (2025)
Fair Elections Center opposes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require every American to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register or re-register to vote. Requiring oftentimes hard-to-get and expensive documents make it harder for citizens to vote, and doesn’t solve any problems with our elections. Recent studies show that around ten percent of voting-eligible Americans do not have documents to show their citizenship. Those citizens are more likely to be women, low income people, and from communities of color.
Maryland Pre-Registration (2025)
MD HB 153 would reduce the age at which an individual may preregister to vote, from sixteen years to fifteen years and nine months and improve the communications between county election offices and preregistered voters.
Louisiana Third-party Voter Registration Restrictions
Testimony opposing Louisiana HB 506, which would require any individual or entity that is not an election official or voter registration agency to register with the Secretary of State’s office prior to hosting community voter registration assistance events. (2024)
Tennessee Third-party Voter Registration Assistance Restrictions
Testimony opposing Tennessee HB 1955, which inhibits third-party voter registration drives by imposing civil liability on third-party organizations for unintentionally permitting someone with certain felony convictions from handling voter registration applications and prohibits prefilling voter registration applications for prospective voters. (2024)
Maryland Automatic Voter Registration
Testimony Supporting Maryland House Bill 627, which would designate the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services as an automatic voter registration agency. Expanding automatic voter registration to state correctional facilities would simplify the registration process for newly re-enfranchised citizens and emphasize the importance of their participation in democracy. In 2016, Maryland law established that as soon as an individual with a felony conviction was released from incarceration, they automatically retained the right to vote. In 2018, the Maryland General Assembly established automatic voter registration, seeking to streamline the process at the MVA and other government offices. HB 627 is an opportunity to realize the full potential of these two policies and expand automatic voter registration to ensure that returning citizens face no barriers in exercising their right under Maryland law to have a voice in our elections. (2024)