Here's my take on the issues raised in the deceptively named 'Save America' (from what? its people?) Act. We should be doing just the opposite. The presentation of any valid ID (such as a utility bill) to confirm residence, plus a declaration under penalty of perjury of the facts creating eligibility (i.e. citizenship) --included in the registration form-- should be sufficient to register to vote and vote. And if any person or entity wants to challenge the eligibility, they should have the burden of proof to refute what would be considered prima facie evidence in any court... i.e., the declaration of the voter candidate. It seems clear to me that adults living in America should be able to vote, and the presumption of eligibility under citizenship or other rules (e.g. current residence) should be presumptive in their favor unless proven otherwise. We count persons for determining representation in Congress, not citizens (per the Constitution). All adult persons have a stake in their government and thus should be presumptively entitled to vote. Any other approach is inherently undemocratic, in that it is by definition an effort to restrict or impede the right of valid stakeholders to participate in their own democratic governance.
To clarify, I think citizenship should really only enter into it to determine eligibility of persons not actually living in the US to vote, i.e. expats and military. (Because their right is based on citizenship, not residence). I would prefer that noncitizen residents also have the right to vote, on the theory that it is unjust to deny people who are affected by the governance imposed on them the right to have a say in that governance. But even if we were, contrary to that principle, to continue to require people to be citizens in order to vote, as we currently do, the burden of proof should be on the challenger; people who can show they live in this country (and therefore necessarily pay taxes), should be presumed to be citizens if they say under penalty of perjury that they are, and if anyone, including the government, wants to say, no you aren't, then they should have to prove it.
The actual facts are that noncitizens do not currently vote in any significant numbers, because the system makes it very difficult and in almost all cases noncitizen residents do not even attempt to violate the law. Cases of actual voter fraud are vanishingly rare. The Republicans are lying: they don't seek "reform" to ensure that only those properly entitled to vote do so. What they want is to make it difficult for marginalized people, including citizens, who don't have sophisticated documentation and can't easily, to vote, so that a fraction of the electorate that tends to vote for Democrats will be systematically denied the vote, ensuring that candidates actually only supported by a minority tend to win elections. The other nondemocratic features of our current system, such as gerrymandering, other unnecessary restrictions on voting, the disproportionate representation in the Senate, and various obstacles designed to discourage voting, all have the same overall effect: impeding democracy so that an elite minority more easily retains control. This is shameful and unworthy of any country claiming to be democratic.
