This is not a drill! Unbelievably, last week, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that could make it VERY hard for at least 69 million American women to vote! Not okay.

If passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law, the SAVE Act will create huge barriers to voting for more than half of Americans who do not have passports and 69 million American women who have changed their names after marriage and whose birth certificates do not match their current names.

The “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) Act is straight-up voter suppression, would keep tens of millions of eligible voters from voting, and does absolutely nothing to protect the integrity of our elections. This terrifying bill must be stopped in the U.S. Senate.

We urge you to vote NO on the SAVE Act because this bill will create huge barriers to register to vote for the more than half of Americans who do not have passports and the 69 million women who have changed their names after marrying and whose birth certificates no longer match their names.

Moreover, this legislation would end voter registration drives, online and mail voter registration, and other voter registration efforts that are critical to voters, regardless of political party.

Requiring voters to change birth certificates to match current names or apply for passports is a huge logistical, financial, and administrative burden for people across America, working mothers, the elderly and people with disabilities, military, low-income, and rural voters.

The SAVE Act is a dangerous anti-voter bill that will not make our elections safer, but will create barriers that weaken our democracy and silence voters, regardless of political party.”

Here’s where we are: The Republican SAVE Act, an extremist U.S. House Republican bill has passed the House. Now, it may go to the U.S. Senate for a vote unless we put pressure on the Senate and ensure it doesn't come up. The SAVE Act would require all eligible Americans to provide proof of citizenship by presenting either a passport or a birth certificate, in combination with a government-issued photo ID matching your current name to register to vote.

The SAVE Act will make it harder for voters to vote, it will also have a disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Asian, and other people of color, married people who have changed their names, and young and elderly people are more likely to have problems accessing these documents. It will also burden military voters, Native voters, rural voters, naturalized citizens, survivors of natural disasters, and trans voters who have gone through the process of changing their legal name. Not to mention stripping 69 million married women of the voting population of their ability to register to vote! [1]

Are you one of the nearly 69 million married women in the US who changed your name when you married? Is your married name on your birth certificate? No? Then you won’t be able to use that to register to vote.

The SAVE Act penalizes women, making it significantly harder for them to register to vote. Further, the bill does not provide a clear way for women to prove their citizenship without a passport, which would leave many women without a way to register or cast their ballots. Married women who have changed their last name would also have to change their birth certificate, at significant cost and time, to meet the new voter requirements. This bill would impact working moms and those who simply cannot afford the expensive paperwork to prove they are eligible to vote.

We are asking for your help in urging your legislator to vote NO on the SAVE Act. After you take action, please post the action link on social media, forward this email to friends and families, and keep the pressure on!

--Namatie, Ruth, Elyssa, Donna, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

P.S.– Personal experiences are powerful and can make a HUGE difference in helping elected leaders understand how public policies impact families so they can move change. We want to hear more from YOU! Can you take a second and follow the link below to share your personal story about how passage of the SAVE Act would impact you and your family?

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