Married women could be stopped from voting according to SAVE ACT

The protection of American Voter Elernibility (SAVE) Act could prevent many married women from being able to register to vote.

The law, reinstated by Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy, is intended to amend the National Voter Registration Act to ensure that all people who sign up to vote are US citizens. It would require people to present personal documentation as proof of citizenship when they sign up to vote.

Much of the documentation listed under the SAVE ACT is based on having a birth certificate that matches the person who registers to vote. However, as many as 69 million married women in the United States have changed their legal name since they marry, which means their name does not match their birth certificate, per. Center for American progress.

Newsweek reached out to Representative Roy via E -Mail for comment.

Why it matters

The United States is a democracy, which means that all citizens, with the exception of children and some criminals, have the right to vote. The Save Act would make it significantly more difficult for married women as well as many other members of the population to exercise their right to vote as Americans.

If they do not have a passport that almost 146 million people in the United States do not have, it will be much more difficult for those who have changed their name to register to vote according to the SAVE ACT.

It is also already illegal to vote as a non -status, and several measures, including giving a social security number to register, matching voter rolls for federal data, and many places that bring select -id to the polls are in place all over the country across the country to ensure that only citizens can cast a vote.

What to know

SAVE ACT shows several types of documentation that would be accepted, including a form of identification issued in accordance with the requirements of the real ID law of 2005, a valid United States -Pas, valid military -id, forms of tribal identification and evidence for naturalization. Many of these types of ID, except for a passport, either include a birth certificate or need to be presented with a birth certificate.

Save the action does not include proof of name change or a marriage certificate as acceptable proof of identity. This is important for married women with a birth certificate that does not match their current legal name.

A Republican representative introduced the law. But if adopted, it can reduce the voting options for Republicans, as a PEW survey found that more Republican than Democratic Women choose to change their name after getting married.

Save the action also accepts valid passports as proof of ID. The states with the fewest number of people with passports are West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oklahoma. All of these states voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.

Election workers are facing the threat of prison time under the SAVE Act, as it would impose a five -year prison sentence on election workers who register people to vote without proper documentation, regardless of whether this person is a US citizen.

Roy has claimed that elections have been “hijacked” by foreigners, but the United States has minuscule levels of non -state voting and harsh penalties, including deportation for non -citizens trying to vote.

A revision from the Georgia comments in 2024 found that 20 non -citizens, out of Georgia’s 8.4 million registered voters, had tried to vote. That’s 0.00024 percent of the state voter list. All 20 were referred to law enforcement and had a zero effect on the election.

What people say

Campaign Legal Center, in an analysis: “More than 21 million Americans are unable to access the additional documents that would sign up for difficulty in accessing these documents … We already have strict laws in place to protect the security of our choice.

Representative Chip Roy, in a press release: “American elections belong to American citizens, and public confidence in these elections is the cornerstone of our republic. We in Congress have a duty to our fellow citizens to give this confidence and put concrete enforcement in place to ensure that our choices and our Sovereignty cannot be hijacked and affected by foreign nationals who have no business voting in this country.

Ceta Mitchell, founder of the only citizen voting coalition, in a press release: “America’s choice must be legal, fair and free of scams. SAVE ACT is an important protection to ensure that only citizens vote in our choice – because every illegal voting cancels the voice of a legal citizen selector … The integrity of our choices – and The American people’s confidence in our choice – depends on it.

Center for American Progress, in an Article 31 January: “The only Americans to take advantage of the SAVE Act are outside touch politicians who are willing to trample on the rights of millions of citizens, including their own voters, to score a few political points with the media and the administration. “

What happens next

The bill was introduced in July 2024, but failed to adopt the democratic controlled Senate. Now, with Republicans in charge of both congressional and the White House, Save Act is likely to enter the law.

If the bill adopts, it probably has little impact on non -citizens, as there are so few cases of non -citizens trying to vote, but it will make it significantly harder for Americans to register to vote.