Congresswoman Moore Opposes Voter Disenfranchisement Bill

The so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require individuals who register to vote—including those already-registered voters who update their registration as the result of a move, name change, or party switch–to register to vote in person and provide government documents proving one’s U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate. 42 states, including Wisconsin, allow online voter registration. This legislation would end this policy and create harmful consequences for many Americans, including service members serving overseas, transgender Americans, rural voters, and married women who legally change their last names. It would also threaten to penalize state election officials with criminal sentences for failing to follow the bill’s requirements.

“The so-called SAVE Act is a voter disenfranchisement bill that threatens the rights of millions of eligible voters to exercise their most sacred right in our democracy. This bill is unnecessary, as it is already illegal for an undocumented person to vote in federal elections with stiff penalties for doing so. The reality is, Republicans want to make it harder for eligible Americans to vote. Instead of promoting ‘election integrity,’ this bill would promote voter disenfranchisement. Republicans continue to undermine trust in our elections with their allegations of voter fraud. Their false claims of undocumented individuals voting en masse in elections, which is motivating this bill, is really an extension of the Big Lie.

Who would the so-called SAVE Act actually target? The 69 million American women who change their last names after marriage. As a result, their married names may not match the names on their birth certificates, which could threaten their access to the ballot box under this bill.

And the more than half of Americans don’t own a passport, one of the few government documents that the SAVE Act would now require for voting registration. Under this bill, most Americans would be unable to register to vote using one of the most common documents available–their driver’s license or other state-provided identification, alone.

The so-called SAVE Act also directly attacks the voting rights of service members deployed overseas. Thanks to Republicans, those who risk their lives to serve our country could also be disenfranchised because they could only register to vote in person under this bill. For rural voters, the SAVE Act places undue hurdles on rural voters, ending online or mail-in registration which would force rural Americans to possibly travel far distances just to register to vote. And given the difficulties transgender Americans face in receiving accurate birth certificates and passports, this bill would also hinder their ability to vote.

Congress needs to strengthen voting rights, by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, not work to take them away. Today, I am voting no on a bill that would make it harder to vote for tens of millions of American citizens.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.