A bill called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act may sound like something positive, but in reality, this piece of federal legislation would create major barriers to voting for many people, including those with vision loss and other disabilities.
The SAVE Act would require all Americans registering to vote or updating their registration information to present proof of citizenship in person. For most people, this would be a passport or birth certificate. You can find a summary and the full text of the bill at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22.
There are many serious problems with this bill. For starters, most lower income people do not have a passport, and many do not have possession of their birth certificate. Obtaining these documents is difficult—there are both financial and transportation barriers. These obstacles are particularly burdensome for people who are blind or low vision.
The SAVE Act also disproportionately affects women, since many women change their name when they get married, meaning their birth certificate does not match their current legal name. The requirement that this documentation be presented in person also potentially means the end of online voter registration, a huge problem for those without access to reliable transportation.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act today (April 10), and it now moves to the Senate. We strongly urge you to contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to vote against it. The right to vote is too important to place these unnecessary burdens on so many Americans. Our voter registration processes are already secure, and this law would do much more harm than good.
Here’s the contact information for Wisconsin’s two U.S. Senators:
Senator Ron Johnson
Email contact form
328 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-5323
Senator Tammy Baldwin
Email contact form
141 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-5653
