TAKE ACTION: Protect Voter Registration Access

A petition was sent by an outside group to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) requesting that the EAC develop a regulation that would amend the federal voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship. Anyone—that includes you—can
submit comments by October 20 on this proposal.

We are urging every member to submit your own individual comments asking the EAC not to initiate rule-making in response to this petition. Individual Leagues will be submitting comments on behalf of the League. You can submit your own comments apart from the League. Comments should be submitted here by October 20.

When an agency receives a petition like this, they open a comment period and if they receive enough comments in favor, may then engage in rule-making to establish a regulation. This petition is similar to prior efforts to require proof of citizenship to register to vote attempted through an Executive Order and the SAVE Act. The League is actively opposing both of these. This petition opens another front where we have to block undemocratic actions.

Please submit comments asking the EAC NOT to initiate rule-making in response to this petition.

Sample Comment

Use your own words, but here’s a suggestion to help you get started:

I’m against requiring citizens to submit a passport, birth certificate, or other citizenship documents to register to vote! Only half of American citizens have a passport, and 69million American citizens don’t have a birth certificate with their current legal name on it.

It is already illegal for noncitizens to register and vote in federal or state elections. Requiring a document to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections is unnecessary. There are many communities of eligible voters who would be unnecessarily burdened by the requirement of documentary proof of citizenship. Among them are military voters, families who have been affected by natural disasters may have lost necessary documentation, and Americans who have changed their name, like married women.