Michigan Adoptees Advocate Against House Joint Resolution B and the SAVE Act.
HJR B and the SAVE Act Cost Adoptee Votes! Michigan Adoptees Advocate Against House Joint Resolution B and the SAVE Act.
As part of the Michigan Adoptee Rights Coalition, AAOM and Michigan adoptees have been actively speaking out against House Joint Resolution B (HJR-B) and the SAVE Act because these initiatives will disproportionately impact adopted people in our state and country. If these bills were made into law, Michigan born adoptees, in particular intercountry adoptees who may not have easy access to proof of US citizenship, will be disenfranchised from being able to vote…a right we can’t afford to lose. Simply put, HJR B and the SAVE Act will prevent eligible American citizens from voting, and it is a violation of our constitutional rights.
House Joint Resolution B (HJR B) is a joint resolution to amend the Michigan Constitution to require Michiganders to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, updating their registration and providing government-issued photo ID when casting a ballot. At this time, the documentation that would be required to vote is unclear because it is not defined in the resolution that was introduced on January 25, 2025, and was voted out of committee on March 11th, and is currently headed for a house floor vote.
What we do know is that under HJR B, voters would no longer be able to verify their identity using the affidavit option. Adopted people attempting to vote with ID that an election official deems unfit would be forced to cast a provisional ballot and would have just six days to present valid photo identification at their local clerk’s office for their vote to count.
This poses a significant issue—particularly for adopted Michiganders, because obtaining more documents to prove identity often requires an adopted person to file a petition with a county judge, or to contact Central Adoption Registry, which is currently facing a backlog with processing times sometimes being reported to exceed the legally mandated 63 days. For adoptees struggling to afford or access the documents needed to obtain government-issued ID, the delay would effectively prevent them from voting.
Just two years ago, Michigan voters turned out in record numbers and voted overwhelmingly to enshrine Michigan’s existing voter ID law into the state Constitution. HJR B would roll back voting rights and impose unnecessary burdens on tens of thousands of eligible American voters, including Michigan adoptees. We also know that states like Kansas and Arizona have passed laws like these that resulted in tens of thousands of eligible voters not being able to cast their vote.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require all Americans to provide proof of U.S. citizenship—through in-person documentation—when registering to vote or updating their voter registration. The bill was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 2025 and passed the Congress on April 10th. It now heads to the Senate, and it is important to make your voice heard to your state Senators that the SAVE Act is not a law they should support. You can learn more about the SAVE Act through the Center for American Progress. The forms of ID that would be required in order to vote are listed below:
A form of ID consistent with the REAL ID Act indicating that the applicant is a U.S. citizen (Michigan REAL ID Driver's Licenses do NOT indicate citizenship)
U.S. Passport (60% of Michigan voters do not have a passport)
U.S. Military ID plus military record of service showing U.S. birthplace
Federal/state/tribal-issued photo ID indicating U.S. birthplace
Federal/state/tribal-issued photo ID without birthplace PLUS (1) certified birth certificate or (2) certified record of birth or (3) adoption decree showing U.S. birthplace or (4) Consular report of birth or (5) Naturalization certificate; or (6) American Indian card with the designation KIC
To illustrate how adopted people may be impacted, we helped collect stories from adopted people here in Michigan which are now featured on the Michigan Adoptee Rights Coalition website. While not all adoptees have problems with their identity documents, enough do that this issue is one to take action against as a community.
It’s also important to consider the potential consequences for adoptees who may unknowingly vote without realizing they lack U.S. citizenship. If lawmakers are genuinely concerned about election integrity, they should prioritize protecting the rights of intercountry adoptees by supporting the Adoptee Citizenship Act. This critical legislation would grant citizenship to more than 50,000 adopted adults who were brought to the United States as infants or young children—but who, through no fault of their own, never had their citizenship finalized by their adoptive parents. All those adopted by U.S. citizens deserve the legal recognition and protections that come with their own citizenship.
Ultimately, these voter restrictions are based in fear about a problem that doesn’t actually exist. On April 3rd, 2025 the Michigan Department of State announced the results of a review they had conducted and concluded the incident of non-citizen voting to be extremely rare. 15 credible cases were identified, which is only 0.00028% of the more than 5.7 million total ballots cast in 2024 General Election. These votes would not have swayed election results whatsoever, and of these cases, 13 were referred to the Michigan Attorney General for potential prosecution. We have also learned that Heritage foundation, which has a database cataloging instances of voter fraud, can point to only 68 instances of noncitizens voting nationwide since 1982.
As Adoptee Advocates, we must ask: how many of the so-called “non-citizen voters” might actually be adoptees—individuals who are unaware they lack U.S. citizenship, or even unaware of their adoption altogether? Whether or not these restrictive laws are enacted, the issue of non-citizen voting inevitably affects adopted people, and yet our unique circumstances are often overlooked in these debates.
The real solution lies in ensuring adoptees can access their identity documents and are granted the citizenship they should have received long ago. Any lawmaker who genuinely cares about election integrity must also care about fixing the systemic failures that have left tens of thousands of adoptees in legal limbo.
We call on others to join us in opposing what is, in effect, a modern-day poll tax—one that disproportionately suppresses the votes of adopted people and millions of other marginalized communities across our state and nation.