This Bill in the Senate Could Disenfranchise Millions of #WomenVoters

Trump has renewed pressure for the Senate to pass the #SAVEAct, which requires #ProofOfCitizenship to vote. For the 69 million women who have changed their last name this would create a barrier to voting.

Kathleen Davis
Feb 3, 2026

"Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, the strongest way to make your voice heard is at the voting booth. Yet amid all the turmoil and horror playing out in the streets across the country right now, there’s a quieter, just as insidious plan that could disenfranchise millions of Americans (particularly women) come the November midterm elections.

"The misleadingly named Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (#SAVE) Act, is a republican-sponsored bill that passed in congress in April 2025. It’s sat in the Republican-majority Senate for months but Trump is now putting new pressure to pass it. If it does pass, it could silence millions of voters by creating new barriers to voter registration by requiring in-person proof of citizenship (a birth certificate or passport) that matches the voter’s legal name. Since around 84% of American women who marry take their husband’s last name or hyphenate their surname, this means that an estimated 69 million women may have a legal name that doesn’t match their birth certificate.

"Given that less than half of Americans even have a passport, and about 4 million adult U.S. citizens do not have access to their birth certificate (or other documentary proof of citizenship), that means 21 million Americans could be turned away at the polls. Just as chilling: Given SAVE’s proposed requirement that these documents be presented in person, the bill poses a serious threat to online, mail-in and automatic voter registration, options used by millions of Americans.

"Legal experts also worry that inconsistencies and ambiguities in the bill will lead to uneven enforcement across the country. 'Will marriage certificates be accepted equally across all jurisdictions? We don’t know, because some marriage certificates have different types of information on them, depending on the jurisdiction,' Keesha Middlemass, a political science professor at Howard University told NPR. “'The disenfranchisement — we won't know about it until after the fact.'

"The prospect of such a drastic change to #VoterRegistration coincides with President Trump’s push to suppress voters. Last month, the president repeatedly posted on social media to 'DEMAND VOTER I.D.,' urging action on the bill and reiterating his debunked lies about the outcome of the 2020 election. Elon Musk echoed those calls on X, where “Pass the SAVE Act,” trended last week. Also last week, the #RightWing #TeaPartyPatriots Action group put out a call to its members to pressure the 17 Republican Senators who have not yet cosponsored the SAVE Act. This week Semafor reported that Trump had convinced the few Senate Republican holdouts to vote to pass the #VoterID bill.

"If the act does pass, the stakes are high. 'We've had very close elections in the last three cycles, so if you reduce potential voters by 1 or 2% that could change the outcome of the election,' Middlemass said.

"What can you do now to keep the right to vote free and fair for all? If your legal name doesn’t match your birth certificate or passport, you’ll need to request certified name change documentation like a marriage certificate or divorce decree and check with your state’s security of state that both your voter registration and proof of citizenship are up to date. The U.S. government site, for now, urges those who have changed their name to update their voter registration online or by mail.

"While hope remains that the bill won’t pass through the Senate, if it does, voters will need to get their ducks in a row in advance of election day, since processing these documents can take up to 12 weeks, or longer if states have a backlog of requests. In the meantime, you can sign the League of Women Voters petition to senators not to pass the SAVE Act, or call your senator directly."

Source:
https://www.thepersistent.com/this-bill-in-the-senate-could-disenfranchise-millions-of-women-voters/

#USPol #WomenVoters #VoterSuppression #VoterDisenfranchisement

Good News – A Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Suppress The Vote

By Joyce Vance, Nov 01, 2025

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Good News – A Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Suppress The Vote

In March, Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS.” Predictably, it was designed to do anything but that. Its goal was to make it more difficult to register to vote.

In April, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a senior judge in the District of Columbia, issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily prevented key parts of the executive order from going into effect while the litigation moved forward. The key problem Judge Kollar-Kotelly observed was that Trump was trying to usurp the power the Constitution affords to the states and Congress to run elections.

Friday, the Judge granted summary judgment in parts of the case, entering a permanent injunction that prevents the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from implementing the worst provision of Trump’s executive order: one that purported to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The measure was designed to suppress voter participation in elections; a solution in search of a problem. It’s akin to the poll taxes used in the South before the Supreme Court put an end to them. Trump’s plan would require people to jump through expensive hoops to acquire proof of birth and costly forms of identification, like passports. At least 21 million Americans don’t have that kind of proof readily available. Only 51% of Americans have passports, which cost adults applying for the first time a $165.00 fee, not to mention assembling the documents you need, getting a photograph of yourself, and making it to an appointment. The problem is especially acute for young people and students who live away from home, and whose documents are with their parents, if they have them at all.

The Judge wrote, “The Constitution’s allocation of authority over federal elections between Congress and the States may not be intuitive. But it is no accident,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “Instead, this design was the product of carefully considered compromises among our Constitution’s Framers.” Those compromisers were part of the attention to avoid rule by a king-a dictator.

Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to claim he has powers the Constitution does not give to the president. And this is especially dangerous when it comes to voting, given his track record. We the people must have the right to choose their leaders, not the other way around.

Tonight, another federal district judge stood up for the rule of law and for democracy, telling a power hungry president, “No.”

If you’re looking for something you can do to support the judiciary in this moment where district court judges are bravely standing for the rule of law even though they know that means the president could target them, let them know you support them. Send the Judge and others a postcard, like we do to encourage voters to participate in elections, and thank her for standing for the Constitution and the rule of law. It may seem like a small thing, but the judiciary deserves our support and our thanks for what they are doing. Let’s be visible and involved. Let’s make sure the courts know we are paying attention.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Good News: A Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Suppress The Vote

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JoyceVance #Judge #JudgeColleenKollarKotelly #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #ProofOfCitizenship #RegisterToVote #Resistance #Science #Substack #SuppressVoting #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSAttempt #UnitedStates

Looks like they found another way to disenfranchise women.

"...Many married women may lack readily available documentation that matches their current legal name, which could create barriers to voter registration."

https://www.newsweek.com/save-act-passing-senate-house-donald-trump-voting-2030041

#WomensRights #EqualRights #VotersRights #MAGA #Voting #ProofOfCitizenship