The SAVE Act Is an Assault on Women’s Right to Vote

Speaker Mike Johnson has scheduled the SAVE America Act for a House vote. It is expected to pass.

Republicans are now pressuring the Senate to weaken or eliminate the filibuster to force it through. Representative Chip Roy has said so publicly. And Senate leadership, including John Thune, is under intense pressure to comply.

If they succeed, this bill will pass with a simple majority.

And if it passes, women will be the group most harmed.

Supporters frame the SAVE Act as “voter ID.” That is misleading. The overwhelming majority of American adults already have government-issued photo ID. Most voters already show identification.

That is not what this bill changes.

The SAVE Act requires documentary proof of citizenship to register or update voter registration. A birth certificate. A passport. Naturalization papers. Not just an ID.

That is a fundamentally different requirement.

And it places a unique burden on women.

Millions of women have changed their names through marriage or divorce. Their birth certificate no longer matches their legal identity. Their voter registration may reflect one name, their license another, their passport may be expired or unavailable.

Under this bill, many women would need multiple documents just to prove eligibility: birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, updated ID. If anything is missing or outdated, registration can be delayed or denied.

Voting becomes a bureaucratic obstacle course.

For working mothers, caregivers, military spouses, low-income women, and elderly women, this is not a minor inconvenience. Replacing documents takes time, money, travel, and time off work. Many will simply give up.

That is how restrictive documentation laws work in practice.

The bill also weakens online and automatic registration and gives local officials more power to challenge paperwork. Your right to vote becomes conditional.

Conditional on documentation. Conditional on approval. Conditional on navigating bureaucracy.

That is not how democracy works.

There is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting in federal elections. Multiple investigations have found it to be extremely rare. The real effect of this bill is not preventing fraud.

It is reducing participation.

And the reduction will fall most heavily on women.

Married women. Divorced women. Widows. Military spouses. Working mothers. Elderly women.

These are citizens. These are legal voters. These are the people this bill makes voting harder for.

Right now, stopping this comes down to math.

There are 53 Republicans in the Senate. If the filibuster falls, the bill passes with 51 votes. That means just four Republican senators voting no can block it.

Four.

At least one appears unlikely to support this effort: Thom Tillis has raised serious concerns.

That makes the next targets clear:

Lisa Murkowski

Susan Collins

Chuck Grassley

Senator Collins, in particular, is in the fight of her political life. She knows women and independent voters will be watching this vote closely.

If four Republicans stand firm, this bill fails.

If they don’t, it becomes law.

This cannot be left to inside politics. It requires public pressure.

Calls. Protests. Letters. Constituent outreach. Organizing.

Starting now.

This is an assault on women’s right to vote. And it will only be stopped if people fight it.

The ball is in our court.

Let’s get to work