Toolkit: Voting Rights are Under Attack

Voting rights are under coordinated attack at both the federal and state levels, threatening to disenfranchise millions. In Congress, the SAVE Act would mandate strict photo ID requirements for all voters in federal elections, forcing individuals to present government-issued documentation that many, especially low-income, elderly, and minority voters may not have, effectively creating new barriers to the ballot. In Ohio, Senate Bill 153 would impose harsh restrictions on nonpartisan voter registration efforts by criminalizing minor errors, adding onerous paperwork requirements, and deterring community-based organizations from helping voters get registered. These efforts are designed to suppress participation and silence voices and demand a powerful, strategic response from advocates across the country.

Messaging Guidance: 

• Lead with a shared value like “freedom” and “the right to decide our own future”

• Connect federal and state legislation to a “coordinated attack” on our voting rights. 

• Dismiss attempts to label attacks on voting rights as a way to enhance election integrity or security when we know only eligible citizens are able to vote

• Say what is true rather than refuting what is not. Ex. say: “only eligible Americans are allowed vote” but avoid saying “non-citizen voting” to get your point across

• Lean in to how attacks on voting rights are unfair and designed to help MAGA cheat, steal, and/or game the system for their own political gain. 

SAVE Act/SB153 Messaging 

• SAVE Act and SB 153 are dangerous, unnecessary rewrites of election laws that will make it harder for Ohioans to vote, harder to organize, and harder for elections to run smoothly. It’s an attack on our voting rights, plain and simple.

• SAVE Act and SB153 are MAGA Republicans’ latest coordinated attack on our voting rights to stack the deck for themselves and their campaign backers. Taking away our right to decide our own future by making it harder to not only cast a vote, but make our voice heard in our community. 

• Federal law already requires that only eligible citizens vote in our elections, and all states have systems in place to enforce this. The SAVE Act/SB153 would create unnecessary hurdles, push voters off the rolls, and burden election officials at a time when resources are already stretched thin.

• The SAVE Act/SB153 is a scam. Corrupt politicians are selling out our voting rights by blocking millions from voting, cheating now to make it easier for them to win elections later. Don't fall for it.

• Here they go again, MAGA Republicans' latest attempt to cheat in the next election is by making it harder for 2.3M Ohio women to vote. This is their same old playbook and we won't stand for it. 

• Our democracy works best when every eligible voter, regardless of background, can make their voice heard.

SB153 Summary

• SB 153 Attacks Citizen Power

  • SB 153 targets the citizen petition process with red tape and the threat of political investigations.

  • It’s designed to intimidate volunteers and make grassroots ballot initiatives nearly impossible.

• SB 153 Makes Voting Harder

  • adds burdensome proof-of-citizenship rules that will block thousands of eligible Ohioans, especially married women, young people, and lower-income voters from registering.

  • It bans online registration and creates new risks of prosecution for voters who miss bureaucratic mailings.

  • It increases the use of provisional ballots, which are more likely to be rejected already; 34,000 were thrown out in 2024 alone.

• SB 153 Overloads Local Boards of Elections

  • The bill creates dozens of new requirements and mandates but gives county boards zero new funding.

  • It bans secure drop boxes, making voting less accessible and piling even more work onto election officials.

General Anti-Voter Policy Messaging

• Voter purges make it harder for eligible Americans to vote.

• America’s founders and service members fought to protect our right to vote, pro-voter policies honors their service and sacrifice. 

• America’s founders and service members fought to protect our right to vote, pro-voter policies honors their service and sacrifice. 

• Instead of deleting voter registrations, let’s enact bipartisan alternatives to maintaining accurate voter rolls such as automatic voter registration and same-day registration

• The right to vote is a cornerstone of American democracy. Federal protections of voting rights would guarantee the right for all eligible citizens and protect it from the whims of state politicians or either political party

• Stop SB 153 and HB 233: The Attacks on Democracy

• I'll submit testimony on SB 153/Keep me updated!

• Stop the SAVE Act

• Defend Our Voting Rights

• Tell your members of Congress to oppose the SAVE Act

• Tell Congress: Stop the SAVE Act

Content: Voting Rights are Under Attack Content

• ACLU Know your rights: Voting Rights

• Trump’s executive order on elections: What it could mean for Ohio

• Proof of citizenship, absentee ballots: What Trump order means for Ohio elections

• The SAVE Act: Overview and Facts

• A Republican-backed bill would upend voter registration. Here are 8 things to know

• The SAVE Act Guide 

• Majorities Support Voting Rights Legislation and Filibuster Reform

• Analysis: What the SAVE Act does, and how it could disenfranchise millions of voters

• How Republicans mainstreamed the baseless idea of noncitizen voting in 2024

• 6 facts about false noncitizen voting claims and the election

• What the SAVE Act Means for Women

• Analysis: Voting rights under assault on two fronts, advocates say

• SB 153 would cause Ohio voting hurdles for women and others

• SB 153 One-Pager

• SB 153 One Pager

• I'll submit testimony on SB 153/Keep me updated!

• REPORT: A Justice Agenda – Ohio’s Missing Voters

• REPORT: A Justice Agenda – Ohio’s Missing Voters Part 2

• Voting legislation is advancing in the Ohio Senate. Last week, a committee approved a measure prohibiting ranked choice voting and heard from proponents of a plan to require proof of citizenship for voting.

• The Senate measure, S.B. 153, would require every voter to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. Under current law only citizens may vote, and officials regularly comb through the rolls looking for individuals improperly registered. The only deterrent against registering and voting illegally is the threat of prosecution. That’s worked remarkably well.

• The House passed one of Republicans’ signature issues for the year, (SAVE Act) approving legislation to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections, one of President Donald Trump’s top election-related priorities. Nearly all Democrats lined up against the bill and warned that it risks disenfranchising millions of Americans who do not have ready access to the proper documents.

Both pieces of legislation, state and federal, do essentially the same thing:

• Require people who want to register to vote or update their voting information to provide documentation of their status as citizens, either with a birth certificate or a passport.

• Documentation would have to be presented in person at their local boards of elections, in effect ending the online registration that 42 states, including Ohio, have for their citizens.

• The bills also would effectively end the very common practice of organizations conducting voter registration drives, as most people don’t carry their passports or birth certificates around with them.