SAVE Act would make voting harder for spouses who changed names
The SAVE Act aims to keep non-citizens from voting, but also could make it more difficult for married people to cast their vote.
The GOP-led House of Representatives passed a voting bill on Thursday that critics have said could disenfranchise millions of voters, including tens of millions of married women.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, first introduced last year by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is presented by Republican proponents as necessary legislation to safeguard elections and prevent non-citizens from voting, which is already illegal and exceedingly rare.
It passed the Republican House in 2024 but was never taken up for a vote in the closely-divided Senate. Roy reintroduced the bill in January and, though it has passed the House, it will again face an uphill battle in the Senate, where seven Democrats would also need to support the measure.
While supporters of the bill call it a security measure, voting advocates have argued that it would make it significantly more difficult for tens of millions of eligible Americans to register and practice their constitutional right to vote. There has been specific buzz around how it could impact the approximately 83% of women who change their last name when they marry, as the bill requires the names on necessary documents to match.
Here’s what to know about the SAVE Act and how it could impact different groups of American voters.
What is the SAVE Act?
The SAVE Act would require that anyone registering to vote or changing their registration appear in person at an election office with original or certified documents proving not only identity, but citizenship status. For most Americans, this would mean showing a passport or birth certificate.
This also means the most popular form of photo ID, a state-issued driver’s license, would no longer be adequate on its own. Driver’s licenses, military IDs and Tribal identification documents would need to be accompanied by a birth certificate or record of naturalization that matches the name on them to be valid.
How would it impact American voters?
Registering to vote or updating your voter registration information could become much more difficult for tens of millions of Americans under the SAVE Act.
Most people have to update their voter registration multiple times throughout their lives. Moving into a new home or apartment, changing party affiliation or updating your name, for example, all would now require that Americans go in-person to an election office with original or certified documentation of identity and citizenship status to make any changes or register in the first place.
This bill would likely end voter registration drives, severely limit or eliminate online voter registration (used by 8 million Americans in the 2022 election cycle), limit or end automatic voter registration and eliminate the ability to send in a voter registration application by mail (used by 3 million people in 2022).
People in rural areas, those with disabilities or without reliable access to transportation, for example, would find it difficult to find and appear in person at an election office. This would be compounded by the fact that more than 21 million American citizens do not have their passports or birth certificates readily available, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
What voter security laws are already in place?
Proponents of the bill, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, have argued it is necessary for election integrity, despite data indicating the alleged illegal voting at the heart of the bill is rare.
“Democrats say it’s already illegal to vote as a (non-)citizen, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need further enforcement,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “We don’t rely on the integrity of teenagers trying to purchase a six-pack at the liquor store, right? We require them to provide ID to prove they’re old enough to make that purchase.”
Critics say it is nothing short of voter impression.
“It’s just an undue burden for nothing because there isn’t a problem with non-citizens voting,’’ Helen Butler, executive director of the nonpartisan Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, previously told USA TODAY. “I think it’s all in trying to turn back the clock just so that people aren’t able to vote when they’re eligible to vote.”
There are already ample laws in place to prevent unqualified people from casting their votes, say advocates. These already include a requirement for election officials to verify eligibility and citizenship data via the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, death data, and U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data, as reported by the Center for American Progress.
Federal law also already requires that anyone registering to vote provide either their government-issued driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number in order to establish voting eligibility.
Why are married woman concerned about the SAVE Act?
The SAVE Act requires that the name on your valid passport or photo ID matches the name on your birth certificate or naturalization card. However, it does not include proof of name change or a marriage certificate as acceptable documents to prove identity, meaning the roughly 69 million American women who take their partner’s last name after marriage would not have a birth certificate that reflects their current, legal name.
This issue is compounded by the fact that about half of U.S. citizens, or 146 million Americans, do not have a valid passport, according to U.S. Department of State data. Comparing this number to the approximately 153 million Americans who voted in the 2024 presidential election gives some scope as to just how many citizens could have their voting access disrupted.
If a voter changed their name after marriage and did not have a current passport, they could be prevented from practicing their constitutional right to vote.
The bill does include a provision ordering states to allow registrants to provide “additional documentation” to prove their citizenship when discrepancies arise but does not specify what types of documents states could accept.
Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States, previously told USA TODAY that she was concerned that states wouldn’t be able to work out which additional documents they would accept until after elections occurring this year and potentially, next year.
The bill’s ambiguous language is a concern to voting rights advocates, she said, especially because a provision within it would subject election workers to potential jail time if they accidentally registered a voter who fails to present the outlined documentation of citizenship.
Roy rejected accusations that the bill could impact married women, calling it “absurd armchair speculation,” in a statement.
He said the legislation provided “myriad ways for people to prove citizenship and explicitly directs States to establish a process for individuals to register to vote if there are discrepancies.” His office has not responded to questions about whether they planned to amend the bill to account for the criticism.