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Millions of married women could be about to face major difficulties with voting in the United States if a new act is passed.
The bill in question, known as the SAVE Act, recently reintroduced in the US House of Representatives, could create some major barriers to voting registration.
According to Greta Bedekovics, associate director of democracy policy at the Center for American Progress, the fate of '69 million women are basically up in the air, the way the bill is written'.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is a bill which was first introduced in 2024.
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It failed to pass the Senate at that time and was reintroduced again last month.
The bill seeks to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) and require Americans looking to register or re-register to vote to present a REAL ID-compliant ID proving US citizenship.
A driver's license or government-issued photo ID cards that don't show birthplace or citizenship on them would need to be presented alongside a birth certificate, a naturalization certificate or an adoption decree.
Now, the SAVE Act means that anyone with birth certificates that don't match their current legal names, for example, women who have changed their last name after getting married, would be impacted and would likely need to supply additional documentation.
As many as 69 million women in the US have taken their spouse's last name, but do not possess a birth certificate reflecting that change, according to a Center for American Progress analysis.
Greta Bedekovis and Sydney Bryant of the Center for American Progress warns: "Americans would need to appear in person, with original documentation, to even simply update their voter registration information for a change of address or change in party affiliation.
"These impacts alone would set voter registration sophistication and technology back by decades and would be unworkable for millions of Americans, including more than 60 million people who live in rural areas.
"Additionally, driver’s licenses - including REAL IDs - as well military or tribal IDs would not be sufficient forms of documentation to prove citizenship under the legislation."
In statement published last week, the Campaign Legal Center said that the legislation would impose 'unnecessary barriers to the registration process, requiring voters to provide documentation that many don’t have' as reportedly more than nine percent of American citizens don't have proof of citizenship at hand.
"This in-person 'show your papers' requirement would keep many eligible voters from the polls, particularly those who do not have immediate access to citizenship and name-change documents," said Eliza Sweren-Becker, senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Elections Program.
While the SAVE Act does not explicitly prevent such individuals from voting, it can seriously complicate voter registration requirements which, in turn, makes the process more difficult for millions of women.
Therefore, if the SAVE Act were to become law, married women who have changed their names should obtain certified copies of all marriage certificates, locate their birth certificates and keep any change-of-name documentation on hand for any updates to their voter registration.
