Are You a Mrs.? Don't Lose Your Right to Vote?
Published in The Fayette County Record, June 13, 2025
Written by Elota Patton, a member of the League's Editorial 6-Person Editorial Team
According to the Pew Research Center, 79% of American women took their husbands’ names when they married. Did you? Did women in your family or church community do so? If the answer is yes, you might be interested in learning how the SAVE Act could impact your life.
Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in April, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is now pending in the Senate. Supporters are promoting the bill as a way to stop undocumented people from voting illegally. But there are two major problems with that.
First, undocumented people are already prohibited from registering to vote. Second – and the bigger concern – is that the SAVE Act will make it harder for everyday Americans to vote, with the heaviest impact on rural folks, lower-income families, and women. Women’s right to vote is threatened.
If the SAVE Act passes the Senate, it would require every American to present specific documents - in person - when they register or update their voter registration. These documents would include either a passport or an original birth certificate, and the name on the passport or birth certificate would be required to match the name on your driver’s license. If you are a married woman, you can see the problem.
Others would be impacted as well. People who move and need to register in a new precinct must present these documents, including the (as of 2024) 111,005 Texans in active service, many of whom have not declared a permanent residence to vote by absentee ballot. Military families who sacrifice so much for our country could be forced to jump through needless hoops each time they move.
People caught in a fire or flood would have to present these documents when requesting an address change. Think of those who lost their homes in Hurricane Harvey. Did they have easy access to a passport or an original or certified copy of their birth certificate?
Getting these documents isn’t simple. In Texas, citizens are directed to the Department of Health and Human Services. On the main page, there is no mention of birth certificates. Searches using the terms “Get Birth Certificate,” or “Order Birth Certificate,” or simply “Birth Certificate,” all get the following response: Narrow your search results by adding keywords, filters, or both. Citizens of any U.S. state can obtain a copy of their birth certificate through VitalChek, which charges $59.95 and has a wait time of 23-32 days. The time lag could result in people losing their right to vote if they don’t act in a timely manner.
Obtaining a U.S. passport also requires a birth certificate and costs $130, with significant lead time needed to obtain a photo, apply, and then wait to receive it. (Quick processing adds $60 to the price.) According to USA Today, 51% of Americans hold passports, and those who do tend to have higher incomes. What happens to the other 49%?
Laws like this have been passed before, laws that made it harder to vote. In 1920, when the 19th Amendment was passed and women first won the right to vote, not all state leaders thought that was a good idea. So, they put barriers in place, such as the poll tax, which required people to pay to register, thereby barring many poor voters. Poll taxes did not become illegal in the U.S. until 1966.
Americans do not need MORE obstacles to vote.
We need Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act and pass pro-voting reforms such as Same-Day Registration, protections for voters with disabilities, and funding for the Election Assistance Commission. If legislators truly want to secure and improve elections, they should invest in upgraded equipment, expand staffing for election administrators, and provide training for poll workers.
The SAVE Act isn’t about safeguarding elections - it’s about silencing voters. We should be working to make voting more accessible, not placing more obstacles in front of people who are already doing everything right. If we don’t speak out now and urge our Senators to stop this bill, we risk losing what makes our country strong: a government of, by, and for the people. Including married women.
If this is concerning or alarming to you, now is the time to contact Texas Senators Cornyn and Cruz and ask them to vote against the SAVE Act. Learn how to contact your Senators here https://www.senate.gov/states/TX/intro.htm.