Save Act – Vote

A Pivotal Time for Voting Rights: The SAVE Act and a new executive order represent some of the worst federal voting policies in U.S. history.

From Indivisible:

• Call your senators and urge them to vote against H.R. 22 — the MAGA bill that would disenfranchise tens of millions of voters. House Republicans passed one of the most extreme voter suppression bills we’ve seen, and we need to make sure it dies in the Senate. We have a lot more to say on this heinous bill below, but if you’re short on reading time, make sure you make this call and/or send an email.

Remember — we’ve said all along this was going to pass the House, but could be stopped in the Senate. And that remains true. Republicans need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and that means they need seven Democrats to join them. Our job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. Everyone is welcome to call and email your senators in opposition to this bill. But we need to drive the most calls to these* senators:

AZ: Mark Kelly
GA: Rafael Warnock
NH: Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen
NV: Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen
MI: Gary Peters

If you have a senator on that list, please call them (during business hours) and email them. And if you have friends in those states, urge them to do the same!

Here’s the link to our call tool.
Here’s the link to our email tool.

*We’ve included senators on this list due to recent votes and/or because they haven’t announced a position on this bill.

Will the SAVE Act make it harder for married women to vote? We ask legal experts

Among the most notable changes outlined in the bill is the requirement to prove U.S. citizenship before registering to vote. Acceptable documents will include a birth certificate, U.S. passport, naturalization paperwork and certain versions of the Real ID that indicate citizenship.

But for as many as 69 million American women who have taken on their spouse’s name, their birth certificates no longer match the names they use today, according to an analysis by the progressive Center for American Progress. Meanwhile, more than half of all Americans do not have a passport, according to a 2023 YouGov survey.

“Obtaining that marriage certificate is an additional cost, administrative burden and extra penalty that other voters do not have to do,” said Thomas, who teaches voting rights and general equality.

She added, “These might all seem like trivial costs, but they all add up. There is also time delays and administrative inconvenience and burden at each step that creates more obstacles and discouragement to voting.”

MAGAs Are Punishing Women For Taking Their Husband’s Names

The MAGA SAVE Act is punishing women who dropped their maiden names and took their husband’s names after marriage. As The Brennan Center for Justice stated after the House passed the SAVE Act last week:

The House has just passed one of the worst pieces of voting legislation in American history. The Senate must stop it. The SAVE Act would put voting out of reach for millions of American citizens. It should not become law. More than 21 million American citizens don’t have the documents required by the SAVE Act readily available. The bill would effectively eliminate forms of voter registration that millions of voters rely on: registering by mail, online, and through voter registration drives would no longer be possible. The SAVE Act would also create chaos for election administration by imposing significant burdens on election officials and disrupting the systems that keep our elections running smoothly.

AND IT’S NOT JUST THE MARRIED WOMEN

Federal Voter ID Bill Attacks Trans Voters — and Anyone Else Who Has Changed Their Name

But arguably, such a law is aimed directly at transgender people in addition to affecting married people who change their names. And that’s not to mention the 140 million U.S. citizens who don’t have passports and tens of millions who also don’t have easy access to a birth certificate.