Forward Blue - The SAVE Act just passed the House — and it's heading to the Senate. If it becomes law, it could strip millions of Americans of their ability to vote. An estimated 69 million married women who changed their last names could be blocked from registering to vote, a right protected by our Constitution. Trans Americans, disabled voters, rural communities, and the elderly face even steeper barriers, with new requirements to appear in person with documents like passports that many simply don't have.
It doesn't stop there. The SAVE Act would eliminate online voter registration entirely and ban voter registration drives, gutting the very infrastructure that helps underserved communities participate in democracy.
New Republic - Republican Senator John Cornyn got a firsthand lesson in why the SAVE Act, backed by President Donald Trump, would suppress votes if passed.
At a Senate Judiciary hearing Thursday, Cornyn said, “I don’t understand how [the SAVE Act] could disenfranchise millions of Americans. Maybe you could explain.” His Democratic colleague, Dick Durbin, was happy to oblige. After thanking Cornyn for his question, Durbin explained that the voter ID requirements of the bill are not satisfied by a driver’s license, but only a passport.
“Fifty percent of Americans do not have a passport. Those who want to obtain it so they can vote will pay $186 and wait three or four weeks for that to happen,” Durbin said. “Secondly, you can use a birth certificate, but any person who has changed their name as a result of a marriage … has to find not only their birth certificate but some correction of it to prove that they are eligible to register to vote.
“It’s estimated that 9 percent of the voters in America do not have the identification required by this bill. It means that, ultimately, those people will not be voting. And I think that is the ultimate goal of this administration,” Durbin continued.
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