SAVE Act Could Result in 34% of Female Voters Being Turned Away at Polls for Lack of Proper ID
Source: J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press via The Globe and Mail
The Republican Party is not faring well with women this year. Polling shows that among registered swing state voters, abortion is second only to the economy in terms of importance in voters’ eyes. 64% of women are in favor of legal abortion. In early September, an ABC News/Ipsos poll suggested Vice President Kamala Harris led former President Donald Trump by seven points among women.
The fear that female voters will turn out en masse for Democratic candidates down the ballot this year may explain the GOP’s persistent attempts to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The SAVE Act would require voters to display both a birth certificate and a form of current identification with the same name on both if they lack proof of citizenship with their married name and US birthplace listed. Forms of identification include REAL ID, a US passport, military ID and service record, or a government-issued ID with US birthplace listed.
Concerns abound that SAVE would deal a catastrophic blow to women’s voting rights, specifically those who are married and changed their name. Some married women do not go through the formal legal process of getting their name changed. If they do, the change is not immediate and requires getting a new Social Security card, drivers’ license, passport, and other vital documents. 90% of married female voters have a different name on their ID than their birth certificate, and the National Organization for Women estimates that 34% of female voters could be turned away at the polls for this reason.
Trump and his campaign support the SAVE Act, alleging that the Democratic Party is “registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak.” There is little evidence to support claims that non-citizens are swaying American electoral outcomes. In North Carolina, there were just 41 out of 4.8 million votes found to be cast by legal immigrants in the 2016 election.
House and Senate Republicans threatened to force a government shutdown if SAVE did not make it into the final budget bill, but currently do not have a clear path to ensuring SAVE’s passage. Democrats have pledged to vote against any budget proposal that includes SAVE, guaranteeing immediate failure in the Democrat-majority Senate despite its success in the House. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) removed SAVE from the proposal on September 22; he cited concerns of a government shutdown so near to the looming general election on November 5th. However, Johnson faced fierce criticism from Trump, who urged Republicans to reject any bill that did not include SAVE. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) celebrated the defeat of the “MAGA GOP bill.” Although SAVE did not remain in the budget bill, there is anxiety among top Democrats that it will return in the near future.
If implemented, SAVE would be a federal law, enforced by the president. State authorities would have no authority on the matter. If the president declared thousands of voter registrations in North Carolina questionable, voters could be removed until deemed valid, with states powerless to halt the purge. The election is less than 35 days away, with early voting having already begun in some states. If SAVE passed before the election, married women who have not completed the process of obtaining new ID could be forced to scramble. Even then, they might not get a new ID in time. While the North Carolina DMV predicts a two to three week wait for a new drivers’ license, a backlog in May 2024 bumped wait times to six or seven weeks. There are less than five weeks until Election Day.
Since the 2020 election, voting rights have increasingly come under attack. New photo ID laws since 2021 in Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina may make voting disproportionately more difficult for student voters. Mississippi limited who can aid someone in returning a mail-in ballot. Groups affected most by recent infringements upon voting rights, such as people of color and students, are more likely to vote for Vice President Harris. The SAVE Act is no different in its aim. Trump allies recognize the support Harris has garnered among women and they worry this bloc will hand the former president another decisive loss.
The SAVE Act, while touted as an election security measure, has significant potential to disenfranchise American voters, especially married women. For a group of citizens who gained the right to vote just over a century ago, the possibility of being turned away at the polls represents a dangerous step backward.