GOP bill would make it harder for many married women to register to vote

House Republican leaders are pushing a bill that would make it harder for Americans to register to vote, claiming it is needed to stop noncitizens from undermining democracy. Experts say that the bill is unnecessary, would effectively end voter registration by mail, and would disenfranchise citizens, especially married women who have changed their names and those serving abroad in the U.S. military.

“American citizens — and only American citizens — should decide American elections,” said Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-MI) in a joint statement issued on March 31. “House Republicans are determined to codify this commonsense idea with the SAVE Act which puts in place commonsense safeguards to prevent noncitizens from abusing our democratic process.”

A February analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy nonprofit organization based at the New York University School of Law, warned, “If enacted, it would devastate voter registration while disenfranchising tens of millions of eligible American citizens.” 

What is the SAVE Act?

Officially the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the SAVE Act was introduced in the House of Representatives on Jan. 3 by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy. 

The legislation would require all Americans registering to vote to provide “documentary proof of United States citizenship,” such as a valid passport; a military ID with a military service record; or a government-issued photo identification card with a birth certificate or naturalization record. It would allow states to create their own alternative verification processes for those citizens who lack documentary proof and accommodate citizens with disabilities or who have legally changed their names.

It would also create criminal penalties for election officials who do not fully comply. “This draconian legislation would also subject state and local election officials to hefty criminal fines and up to five years in federal prison. These criminal penalties would apply even if the election official registers an eligible American citizen,” said a fact sheet provided by the Democratic minority on the Committee on House Administration.

The bill is cosponsored by 106 representatives, all Republicans, including Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany. Sen. Ron Johnson is one of 19 GOP cosponsors of the Senate version, sponsored by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

Is it needed?

“Radical progressive Democrats are taking drastic steps to fundamentally remake America through open borders, the release of millions of illegal aliens into our communities, and by waging a full-scale assault on election integrity laws,” Roy’s office claims in a one-page information sheet. “While only U.S. citizens can legally vote in Federal elections, Federal law has generally preempted and undermined state laws requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in such elections. Rep. Chip Roy’s SAVE Act would fix this problem, thwart Democrat efforts to cement one-party rule, and uphold and strengthen current law by requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in Federal elections.”

Roy’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at the nonpartisan good government advocacy group Common Cause, called the act a “solution in search of a problem.”

“Voters already have to attest that they are citizens when they register to vote,” Scherb said in a phone interview. “It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. So it is hard to figure out what problem this is trying to solve.”

Scherb said studies by organizations, news outlets, and election officials have found noncitizen voting to be exceedingly rare, and it has never been shown to have affected the outcome of any U.S. election. 

A blog post under the title “Noncitizens Don’t Illegally Vote in Detectable Numbers,” posted in November 2020 by the conservative libertarian Cato Institute think tank, found “no good evidence that noncitizens voted illegally in large enough numbers to actually shift the outcome of elections or even change the number of electoral votes.” A 2017 Brennan Center study of 42 jurisdictions determined that in the prior year’s general election, election officials overseeing 23.5 million votes had reported just some 30 suspected incidents of noncitizen voting, or 0.0001% of the votes cast.

What would the act’s dangers be?

A 2023 survey by the Brennan Center found that about 9% of American adults, more than 21 million people, do not have readily accessible documents proving their citizenship. 

In comments before the House Rules Committee on March 31, New York Democratic Rep. Joseph Morelle pointed out that the law would disenfranchise many of those citizens, especially married women who have changed their names and people serving in the military.

Morelle observed that the law would go in effect immediately after enactment, but that states would then each have to approve processes to allow individuals whose name is not the same as the name on their birth certificate to register to vote. “Women who have a different last name, by virtue of getting married — and 84% of women take their husband’s name in America — they will be unable to register to vote. So that could take months and months; there is no way to register during that time.”  

The Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan think tank, said in an article published in January that about 69 million women and about 4 million men would be unable to use their birth certificates to prove citizenship under the bill.

Morelle said the bill’s in-person documentation requirements would effectively end voter registration by mail. This would make registering harder for everyone, but especially for service members: “If you are serving overseas, you’re a Marine somewhere stationed around anyplace in the globe, you can’t register by mail. If you haven’t registered before you get deployed, you simply can’t register to vote. So think about it: Men and women who are literally putting their lives on the line to defend the rights and interests of American citizens would not be able to register to vote, to vote in an American election. It seems like the greatest insult of all.” 

He also noted the law would apply to older Americans, including those moving into skilled nursing facilities, who would be forced to get to elections offices in person to change their registration.

Scherb said that those groups and others could be disenfranchised if the SAVE Act becomes law.

“Certainly rural voters, who would have to drive longer distances to get to their local elections office. Sometimes it is many hours away,” he observed. “Individuals with disabilities, individuals in nursing homes who have physical ailments as well. It would be hugely disruptive and would silence tens of millions of Americans.”