Statement On Legislation Affecting Voting Rights

In May 2025, the WBA published its Statement on Federal Executive Orders Impacting Women https://wbamd.org/statement-on-federal-executive-orders-impacting-women. We are called again to address proposed legislation which will disproportionately impact the rights of women and underrepresented citizens with respect to their right to vote. The Women’s Bar Association of Maryland, Inc. (“WBA”) (https://wbamd.org/) is an organization of women and men committed to the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a just society. The right to vote is central to ensuring that we continue to live in a just society. The WBA is fully committed to this mission.

The SAVE America Act, passed the House on February 11, 2026 and will be voted upon in the Senate (S.128). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/128.

Purporting to promote “election integrity” the SAVE Act or SAVE America Act is actually designed to block lawful voters from participating in elections particularly rural voters, voters of color, and nearly 70 million married women who have changed their last names, along with other voters who have been historically marginalized and already face barriers to casting a ballot.

The bill purports to solve a problem that does not exist. It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, and research shows that just 0.04% of voter verification cases are returned as being cast by non-citizens. This legislation, if passed, is nothing more than thinly disguised voter suppression.

Potential effects if the SAVE Act is passed into law:

  • Limiting women’s democratic rights. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act passed House of Representatives April 10, 2025 (Senate vote pending) seeks to add burdensome restrictions on voter eligibility (e.g., requiring birth certificates to match current names on IDs). This would affect women and minorities disproportionately (Americans who have changed their name, like married women and the trans community). In the US, 84% of women who marry men change their surnames to that of their husband, and an estimated 69 million women presently lack paperwork that reflects their current name. https://www.lwv.org/blog/safeguard-american-voter-eligibility-save-act-trick.
  • People of color. Compared to white US citizens, citizens of color are three times more likely to lack documents such as birth certificates, passports, naturalization certificates, or certificates of citizenship or face difficulties accessing them. For example, while approximately half of all American adults possess a passport, two-thirds of Black Americans do not.
  • Blocking the rights of already registered voters. Extremely restrictive documentary proof of citizenship imposed upon voters who are already properly registered and who previously provided proof of citizenship could still be turned away at the polls if they do not bring a passport or other qualifying document with them on Election Day.
  • Forcing states to hand over confidential voter information. The SAVE America Act would also require every state to conduct frequent purges of their voter rolls and turn over its voter registration list to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comparison to the agency’s error-ridden database.
  • Military voters. Members of the military would be required to present documentation every time they re-register to vote when their family moves as well as when the active duty member is deployed but the family stays behind.
  • Disaster victims. Families who have been impacted by natural disasters and lost important documentation would be required to jump through hoops to replace these documents while also going through the traumatic process of rebuilding their lives.
  • Imposing yet to be determined new rules for mail-in ballots.
  • Rendering current IDs useless. Government-issued driver’s licenses including REAL IDs as well as military or tribal IDs do not satisfy the bill’s requirements.

The League of Women Voters of the United States issued the following statement in response to the House of Representative’s vote on the SAVE America Act:

The House passage of the SAVE America Act is a direct attack on the freedom to vote. Let’s be clear: the SAVE America Act, alongside the SAVE Act, Make Elections Great Again Act, and similar proposals, is part of a coordinated effort to make voting harder for eligible Americans.These bills are not about election security. They are about restricting access to the ballot and deciding who gets to participate in our democracy.

If the proposed legislation is passed, millions of eligible voters could be blocked from casting a ballot due to the draconian requirements proposed. Consider this: many eligible citizens do not possess the documentary proof of citizenship which would be required. According to the State Department, examples of documents to prove primary citizenship include a birth certificate, a U.S. passport, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, a Certificate of Citizenship, or a Naturalization Certificate. While at least one of these documents is – in theory – available to most citizens, not all voters have them readily available. According to recent studies:

  • 9% of all eligible voters do not have, or do not have easy access to, documentary proof of citizenship.
  • 52% of registered voters do not have an unexpired passport with their current legal name.
  • 11% of registered voters do not have access to their birth certificates which often lack information that matches a person’s current identity (e.g., someone who has changed their name through marriage or court order).

POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS:

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