Ramifications of the Save Act 

By: Nick Hathaway & Jordan Thomas | Publish Date: March 26th, 2026

“I think this act will affect my family members more than myself, as I have always had my passport and my birth certificate (which) matches it,” Lana Surzhko said on how the recently passed Save Act would affect her family, “but for most women in my family, this isn’t the case and especially for older women, I doubt grandma knows where her marriage license is.” 

 “It is important to state the Save Act must receive its support from the Republican Party for the law to be passed,” stated Kean University political science professor Dr. Maxwell Burkey. 

This Save Act is an extremely consequential legislation, as a lot of people’s lives as well as basic rights of low-income minorities and other groups would be in jeopardy if it is officially passed. The passage of the Save Act would severely strip away and violate several basic rights that Americans have gotten to enjoy since the passing of the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.  

“The Save Act being implemented could possibly set America back decades or even centuries. Similar to laws such as the Jim Crow Law in the South, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to prevent certain groups like women, African American and lower income from being eligible to vote for a long time,” Dr. Burkey said.  

“Many American citizens do not have ready access to their passports or birth certificates which would make it more difficult to provide citizenship in order to be registered to vote,” Burkey continued.  

Fellow Kean professor, Dr. Seif Sekala, drew a similar conclusion.  

“The sad irony is the people who President Trump says they don’t want non-citizens to vote they call them illegals. The irony is that most don’t even want to vote that requires them to have papers.  And so, to speak they know also avoid getting within miles of the voting booth to lay low,” Dr. Sekala stated. 

While the Save Act has the potential to throw millions of American lives into disarray, there is still time to stop it. The act has not passed through the House of Representatives yet, there is still time for people to write to their representatives to share their displeasure with this legislation. To find out who your Congresspeople are, type your address into this link. For more information on how to register to vote, visit the New Jersey Voter Information Portal.