The SAVE Act Could Stop Millions of Women From Voting. Here’s What You Need to Know

The Republicans have a new voter registration bill, the SAVE Act, which experts warn could be a major threat to voting rights for all Americans, and particularly for married women, people of color, young voters, and other marginalized groups.

The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican congressman Chip Roy, was first introduced in 2024, where it passed in the House of Representatives. Now, it has been reintroduced to the new, 119th Congress. The SAVE Act is clearly written to further intimidate undocumented immigrants from voting (which is already illegal), amidst the debunked right wing hysteria that non-citizens are voting in American elections. However, the data show that the SAVE Act would only disenfranchise eligible American voters, and do nothing to prevent illegal voting.

What is the SAVE Act?

The legislation would require all potential voters to provide, in person, proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, when they register or re-register to vote. So, for instance, if you’re already registered to vote but move to another state, you would probably need to present one of these documents, in addition to a photo I.D., at a government office when you re-register.

Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, tells Glamour, “This legislation is being promoted as an election integrity bill, but it’s actually voter suppression. If it passes, it would be the first federal law in our history restricting access to voting.” Weiser notes that there are already “multiple safeguards” to prevent non-citizens from voting, and all this legislation would do is make it more difficult for everyone to vote. “It would destroy the most popular methods of registering to vote—whether that’s online, by mail, through a registration drive, or when you update your driver’s license at the DMV—by requiring people to show their documents in person to register. That would keep out many more eligible voters and cause chaos for election administration.”

How does it impact women?

In fact, the bill would impact millions of eligible voters, including the estimated 21.3 million Americans who do not have ready access to a birth certificate or passport, as well as anyone who relies on voting by mail. Early research indicates that it would disproportionately impact voters of color and young voters.

But it would also have a direct impact on anyone whose legal name does not match the name on their birth certificate or passport, such as the 79% of heterosexual married women, per Pew Research, who take their spouse’s last name. “If a married woman hasn’t paid $130 to update her passport—assuming she has one, which only about half of Americans do—she may not be able to vote in the next election if the SAVE Act becomes law,” Weiser says.

And there’s a chance this may not even be an accident. As recently as 2020, per The 19th, RNC speaker and anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson said she supported “household voting,” in which the head-of-household, typically a man, casts one vote for the entire family. This was a common argument against women’s suffrage before the 19th amendment was passed. And it should be noted that Project 2025 explicitly condones and seeks to enforce this sort of family structure. Should the SAVE Act pass, household voting could become the de facto law for married women who changed their last names.