Statement by NOW President Christian F. Nunes
WASHINGTON–One of the top priorities for the new Congress is the so-called “SAVE Act,” which doesn’t save—it destroys.
And once again, women will be among the first to find their rights taken away.
Instead of safeguarding the right to vote it jeopardizes the freedom of millions by making it harder—or impossible—to access the ballot.
The SAVE Act demands that voter registration applicants produce proof of citizenship documents—in person!
That would functionally destroy mail registration, and impact more than 21.3 million people of voting age who don’t have proof of citizenship available.
The fact is, most married women cannot present a valid birth certificate under the SAVE Act, as it does not display their current legal name.
Just like that—the SAVE act threatens the vote for as many as 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name but do not have a matching birth certificate.
And the SAVE act would make voting harder for seniors, adoptees, students, tribal citizens, low-income earners, active-duty military, voters of color, and more than 60 million people who live in rural areas by eliminating online voter registration overnight.
Let’s not forget—every ounce of the “voting integrity” movement is built on lies. A study of the 2016 election found that officials referred only an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting for further investigation or prosecution.
But that’s enough for the backers of the SAVE Act—who only want to save their power over who gets to vote and whose votes are denied.
The SAVE Act is a nightmare, a threat, and another blatant attempt by powerful interests and extremist politicians to disenfranchise millions of American citizens—
Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. NOW calls on Congress to keep democracy safe and reject the SAVE Act.
Originally published by National Organization for Women