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By Kathy Spillar | Earlier this month, the House passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. If it passes the Senate and is signed by Trump (who has already tried to unilaterally implement such a requirement), the bill would require anyone registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship—a valid U.S. passport, or a photo ID presented with a certified birth certificate.
This presents a pretty big problem for a large group of people: women, especially married women who have changed their name, a group that numbers over 69 million. If the SAVE Act becomes law, any time one of those millions of women goes to register to vote for the first time or change their voter registration—maybe they moved to a new address—they could be turned away if the names on their identification and birth certificate don’t match.
The SAVE Act isn’t about safeguarding anything. Its clear goal is disenfranchising large groups of citizens, and in particular, disenfranchising women who tend to vote more Democratic.
Young women. Older women. Poor women. Rural women. Immigrant women. Black and Brown women. Widows whose marriages were decades ago. Survivors who changed their names to protect themselves. People who’ve always voted without issue—until now.
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