By Barbara Rodriguez, Grace Panetta
Voting rights groups say the SAVE Act — which aims to stop something that’s already illegal — would create a barrier for millions of Americans who have changed their legal name.
Millions of American women have a different last name than what’s on their birth certificates, and House Republicans have prioritized a bill that voting rights groups say could make it harder for them to vote.
Several voting rights groups warn the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act — which purportedly aims to block non-citizens from voting, something that is already illegal — will pose a barrier for millions of American women and others who have changed their legal name because of marriage, assimilation or to better align with their gender identity. They also worry it will disenfranchise others from marginalized communities who are less likely to have the necessary documentation readily available. While the SAVE Act faces longer odds in the Senate, it may have a better chance than when it was debated last year.
“It will make it so that people in this country who have every right to vote can’t vote, and for no good reason,” said Hannah Fried, co-founder and executive director of All Voting is Local, a voting rights organization. “We don’t need this hurdle. Only citizens are voting in this country. We have other checks and balances, and this is just a demonstrably unnecessary piece of legislation.”
Lauren Kunis, the CEO and executive director of VoteRiders, an organization that helps Americans obtain identification, said that getting the underlying documentation needed to register to vote can be a “bureaucratic nightmare” for many as is.
“We have lots of experience in helping people track down and order vital documents that are increasingly being proposed as required for voter registration,” she said. “So we’re watching with a lot of concern.”
Read the full article in The 19th.
March 11, 2025.
