Dear Friend,

This week, the House passed the “SAVE Act.” This bill will suppress the ability of millions of Americans – especially women – to vote in federal elections. I voted NO.

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about this bill, so I want to break down what it will actually do and what comes next.

The SAVE Act would require all citizens to prove their citizenship in person to register to vote or update their voter registration (ex: to update their home address after they move). For most people, this means showing up in person with a passport or a birth certificate.

It’s important to note that government-issued driver’s licenses – even REAL IDs – or military or tribal IDs aren’t enough, according to this bill, because they don’t explicitly prove citizenship.

The SAVE Act would immediately change how *all* citizens register to vote – there’s no delay in enforcing this bill if it becomes law, and it will apply to ALL states (even us in California). No more online voter registration, no more mail-in registration, and no more voter registration drives.

In practice, this will shut out tens of millions of voters who cannot comply with the new requirements because they don’t have these documents, don’t know where they are, or can’t access them.

Let’s call this what it is – voter suppression on steroids.

To put this into perspective:

146 million American citizens don’t have a passport – that’s almost as many people who voted in last year’s election.
Young people and lower-income people may not have these documents readily available (like me, they may be at their mom’s house) and cannot afford to pay to replace them.
People in rural communities would be forced to drive HOURS to register to vote in person.
Many women change their last name when they get married – but don’t get their birth certificate changed. A lot of people change their names for a number of reasons, and all of them would have a harder time voting under the SAVE Act.

This would take our country back decades in the progress we’ve made to ensure that everyone has a say in the future of our country and that every vote is counted.

And let me reiterate this fact – we have evidence on top of evidence proving that there’s no widespread voter fraud in our federal elections. It’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. So this bill isn’t solving a real problem – it’s just creating a huge one.

For all of these reasons, I proudly voted NO.

Unfortunately, Republicans hold the majority and the SAVE Act passed the House of Representatives yesterday.

Next, the SAVE Act goes to the Senate – and I’m hoping my Democratic colleagues will block this harmful bill. But no matter what, I will keep working until everyone’s right and ability to vote is safe.

Thanks for tuning in.