The SAVE Act passed the House on Feb. 11, 2026 by a vote of 218-213 and is now in the Senate awaiting a vote. Voting is expected to take place next week, according to Thune. If and when it passes the Senate, it will go to the president for a final signature.
Will SAVE Act Prevent Married Women from Registering to Vote?
Posted on February 28, 2025
Q: Is it true that under the SAVE Act married women will not be able to register to vote if their married name doesn’t match their birth certificate?
A: The proposed SAVE Act instructs states to establish a process for people whose legal name doesn’t match their birth certificate to provide additional documents. But voting rights advocates say that married women and others who have changed their names may face difficulty when registering because of the ambiguity in the bill over what documents may be accepted.
How funny that they constantly provide more incentive to NOT get married
I think it’ll disenfranchise more Republicans than Democrats.
First, while women are generally Democrats, the married demographic is more right wing. Especially the ones who changed their names
Second, Dems will be way more motivated that Republicans and will be more willing to jump over a hurdle to vote.
Cis women, trans people, and abuse victims. Their favourite targets.
It won’t stop married women from voting but it just creates a huge pain in the ass plus basically a poll tax. Since you’ll have to pay for copies of your birth certificate, plus getting your marriage license, and of course an ID.
Unconstitutional, but this admin wipes it’s ass with that document anyways.
It may stop them from voting depending on the requirements surrounding the birth certificate. The format of certain features or seals are not consistent across the US. Local laws in one place may require something which is not done in the place a person was born. My mother deals with that frequently and I had some issues with that previously. Even of she purchased a replacement birth certificate it would still follow the “wrong” format.
I could see this as a huge problem as well. Plus, you usually have to go in person to pick up those birth certificates. So you live in Florida but born in California. Now you’re making a 2k mile trip to vote. I’m sure there are Mail alternatives, but that’s just another barrier to add in.
Yeah, I couldn’t even get photo ID because the state I was born in used a “certificate of birth” and the state I was living in required a “birth certificate”.
It took months to resolve the issue and I only got it fixed by doing a surprise 3 way phone call between offices in both states and had to listen to them argue about it for nearly 20mins. Even then I think I only got my ID because the person in my state was fed up and just wanted to go home for the day.
Oh happy day when MAGA Karens learn this when they try to vote.
No ma’am, hyphenating your name isn’t what’s on your birth certificate.
They’ve managed to antagonize straight marriages, bravo. This is quite possibly the most effective way to get people to think twice before getting married.
Fascism
and Patriarchy
So we’re all getting two last names like Christian people of other countries? Because this is how you get two last names.
You’d better not change your last name at all when you marry.
If I’m not married can I vote twice?
Every day that passes, I hate these people more and more.
why would a married name match a birth certificate name? or are they saying they only marry relatives? do women change birth certs when married? I am not a woman.
but funny story i adoped my stepson after his mom died. he was 14 or so. he was issued a new birth certificate and the “mother” area is … blank.
When you’re married, you give up your voting privileges. Your husband will vote for you. Oh, he only gets one vote of course.
Also, if you’re not married, you’ve clearly shown that you’re not mature enough to vote. A public servant will be designated to vote on your behalf.
The Handmaiden’s Tale has this subplot of a woman regretting of proverbially blowing the misogynists.
Does that mean Alabama women are safe?
(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞
Won’t matter when he cancels elections cause we are in multiple wars.
Does SAVE require documentary proof of citizenship to vote, or just to register? As I understand it, documentary proof of citizenship is the specific requirement that’s hard for anyone who has had a change of name to meet short of a passport or an EDL in the 5 states that offer one.
Basically it changes the types of id that are accepted at voting booths.
When you vote you already have to have registered with appropriate ID to be counted federally. When you show up at the poll this act will change so that only federally issued ID types will be valid. Birth certificates are the most common but if your current name is different than what you were born with for any reason it won’t count.
Of these federal id types most of them are opt in varieties and as such are actually more expensive types of specific ID like passports and “REAL ID”. A regular old drivers licence as issued by your state won’t be good enough anymore even though your name and listed address were verified by the state and already match the name on the voter registration.
Since these id types are more expensive it can make voting the preserve of those who can afford the time and extra money making it a way to disenfranchise economically disadvantaged voters of all stripes .
The states I’ve lived in have entirely phased out non-REAL ID cards. You also can’t fly without a REAL ID now. They’re not some expensive alternate variety you have to opt-in to.
A lot of people still have driver’s licences and ID cards that are not Real IDs, you don’t need to get one to renew a licence.
Ohio still has non-compliant ID cards. I’ve yet to need a REAL ID, I don’t feel a pressing need to acquire the additional documentation I would need to get a compliant card.
SAVE calls for “documentary proof of United States citizenship”, which it defines in the act itself. A RealID that also verifies citizenship counts (normal RealID doesn’t, and only 5 states that offer an “enhanced driver’s license” do), so does a passport, a military ID combined with a record of service indicating you were born in the US, a federal, state, or tribal photo ID showing your place of birth was in the US or a federal, state or tribal photo ID combined with a birth or naturalization record.
Most people will fall in that last category. And most valid birth records explicitly require the record be of the same name. The big question I’m not sure of is if in all the small changes amended to the law by SAVE if documentary proof of United States Citizenship is required to vote or merely to register.
We are also just ignoring the fact that this is all blatantly unconstitutional. At least I’m pretty sure it is but IANAL but apparently knowing or caring about the law and our system of government is not a requirement for anyone in this admin so I feel equally qualified as the idiots voting for this shit.
I mean yeah, it’s almost certainly unconstitutional under 24A. But theat requires a SCOTUs who cares about the law and the constitution instead of putting Heritage first, Trump second and all that other stuff a distant third.
Proof of citizenship is already required to register, bringing proof to the voting booth is the extra hurdle this act brings.
You can change your name with the
IRSSSA. That should be more than sufficient proof.What does the IRS have to do with anything? Read the actual bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text
Section 2(b) is the relevant bit regarding what counts as documentary proof of US citizenship.
The
IRSSSA is a federal agency that you provide documentation to for a name change. Most places won’t hire you without doing this.The fact that you’ve changed your name and the corroborating documentation is already in the federal government’s possession.
But that’s not proof of citizenship, which is what the bill requires.
I realize now that I said IRS instead of SSA.
To change your name with the SSA you have to have an established proof of citizenship or immigration status, or provide the supporting documents.
That’s still not proof of citizenship. The SSA is not in charge of tracking citizenship, so a document from them doesn’t work for that purpose.
As you said yourself, non-citizens can get social security cards. Changing your name in that circumstance is hardly proof of citizenship.
You clearly didn’t read my comment because the SSA knows your citizenship status. To make a name change that status has to be already known to the SSA, or you have to prove it.
And this is all ignoring the fact that you already had to prove it to get a Real ID.
Again, read SAVE instead of making assumptions based on practices of other agencies that are tangentially related.
