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?

By Hadleigh Zinsner

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.

FULL ANSWER

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      It’s proof of citizenship. But also, here it’s a convenient and plausibly deniable way to disenfranchise people who vote differently than them.

      • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Yeah I’m guessing even most MAGA voters don’t have a birth certificate handy, and certainly don’t have passports. This just disenfranchises MOST Americans.

        • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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          1 hour ago

          The enforcement will be extremely selective. We’re talking about Republicans here. They’re not subtle about ignoring the constitution.

          • jj4211@lemmy.world
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            3 minutes ago

            To further your point, this is about registering to vote, not voting. People already registered grandfather in. Just like the literacy treats that white folks also wouldn’t pass, but it was only about the newly allowed black voters.

      • ReluctantlyZen@ani.social
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        3 hours ago

        Yeah, but that seems like a really dumb and not-all-encompassing proof of citizenship. That’s why I asked. The 2nd part of your reaction makes sense and very likely accurate, but probably not the official reason right? Like, what is their public excuse for using it as proof of citizenship?

            • Evotech@lemmy.world
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              60 minutes ago

              Americans doesn’t necessarily have those.

              Like if you don’t leave the US (like a lot of Americans don’t) you don’t have a incentive to keep your passport up to date.

              Everyone in Europe has Passports, because you need it so much more.

              Everyone in America have a birth certificate

    • Rakudjo@lemmy.world
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      14 minutes ago

      “My husband votes conservative for the both of us. A woman’s place is serving God and her husband, not having a right to an opinion.”

      -Conservative women, probably

  • leopardpuncher@feddit.dk
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    7 hours ago

    Seems to me that if your birth name and married name match, this will disproportionately favor people who marry their siblings or other relatives. I wonder what political leaning that particular segment has 🤔

    • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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      6 hours ago

      while i get the joke, i just want to make sure it’s clear to anyone coming across this understnds that women who elect to change their name in the merital tradition of erasure are more likely to be conservative, and the women who have the documents to prove their identity (like a passport) are more likely to be progressive.

      all that said, the focus on how this will impact women, specifically, is frustrating because it’s ignoring the biggest groups of people who will be impacted: immigrants and working poor people. we shouldn’t tolerate the disenfranchisement of ~30% of women, so we are clear, but we are positioned to disenfranchise ~80% of immigrants and working poor and no one is talking about it. these are people who are less likely to have ANY of the acceptable documents proposed in the SAVE act.

      for context, people experiencing poverty are far less likely to be born in a hospital and have a birth certificate, usually depending on a baptism certificate to establish their government name. meanwhile, immigrants may have a passport, but if it’s expired that’s unacceptable, and a lot of the nations around the world that issued the birth certificates being required by this law in place of a passport can no longer certify birth certificates simply because they aren’t existing anymore. i have multiple friends who can’t get their birth certificates right now because that would put them at risk of government retribution because they are asylum seekers. for example, my siberian neighbor isn’t going to be getting in touch with the Russian government any time soon.

      so in conclusion. the aim is to disenfranchise women and minorities. the majority of the women disenfranchised will be conservative. however, the majority of people disenfranchised will be progressive.

      and that’s no accident.

    • MrShankles@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Or it will disqualify a lot of married women who took their partner’s name

      Unmarried women and women who keep their last name will have less trouble voting… and people whose names differ and are aware of the change, are more likely to go through the bullshit to make sure they’re registered. Maybe it’ll prevent a bunch of Magats from being able to vote

      It’s utterly disgusting either way. Hope it backfires, they lose, and they’re persecuted. A kid can dream

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    20-30% of women keep their maiden name after marriage.

    Liberal women are roughly twice as likely as conservative women to keep their maiden name.

    So yeah, conservative women screwing themselves and also handing a minor edge to liberal women.

    • Rooster326@programming.dev
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      5 hours ago

      Yes but who is going to be enforcing this? Where specifically are they going to be enforcing this?

      Because it ain’t gonna be Bumfuck, Alabama who has gone red since the Civil War.

  • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip
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    8 hours ago

    It’s not like it’s impossible for such people to vote, but getting your documents in order costs money.
    Same for voting on a weekday, voting offices being only in affluent neighbourhoods, voting demanding an ID …

    No money, no democracy.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    So are they advocating for child marriage this time? Can a birth certificate be changed to reflect a married name? Somebody ain’t thinking straight

  • OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    I’m worried that this is a distraction to introduce a similar, but somehow less widespread bill. Like “oh boy, yeah this would disallow more women than intended to vote. Here’s the new bill that only disallows people with unmatching first names to avoid voter fraud (or whatever).” …And thus trans people can’t vote.

    • KaChilde@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      This is the intent of the bill as it is written. These bigots were so excited about denying rights to trans people that they didn’t even consider that it might disenfranchise cis women.

      Though for these crusty old cunts, that’s just a bonus!

    • Waldelfe@feddit.org
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      7 hours ago

      Wouldn’t that also hurt all kinds oft people who changed their name for other reasons? Like people who had a Tragedeigh name or artists who took on a different name.

      • OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        Yep, and I think that anti-trans rights people would be more than happy to throw other people under the bus to assure that trans people lose their rights.

        • Waldelfe@feddit.org
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          6 hours ago

          I’m aware they don’t care, I was just thinking that they might make more people angry than ‘only’ the targeted out-group. Also it would be funny if some rich Hollywood stars couldn’t vote because they changed their name for their career.

  • Ksin@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Not having any form of national ID really does lead to some goofy shit when you need to positivly identify people.

    • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Our elections take place inside the state where we reside. We have state ID with a picture and the voting rolls match our address. It’s a pretty simple process that has worked for the last 40 years or so. I’ve always had to provide proof ID and residence to vote

    • bridgeburner@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Right? Imagine claiming to be the greatest country on earth and then not even have a national ID, something I bet even every third world country has lol. The US is such a circus lol.

      • TronBronson@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        We’ve fought having a national ID for decades, with consideration to an administration similar to the current one taking over. We didn’t want the nazis running around demanding papers 10 years ago. It was trumps voting base that was most opposed to it 😭😅

    • Rooster326@programming.dev
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      5 hours ago

      Calling it now.

      Vote-by-mail ballots disregarded.

      And ICE at every poll in every blue city around the country.

    • Wilmo@lemmy.ml
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      5 hours ago

      It doesn’t even matter. If only men vote then Republicans win. Women add more votes to Democrats. Removing them from the picture for voting simply helps Republicans.

  • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    13 hours ago

    Looking forward to being a future target for never having married and/or taken a man’s name next!

    None of us are safe until all of us are safe.

  • robocall@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    I guess all those blue haired feminists that refused to get married or change their last names still get to vote

    • Patrikvo@lemmy.zip
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      8 hours ago

      Next they’ll exclude anyone whose current hair color doesn’t match their official one.

  • Vegafjord eo@lemmy.ml
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    11 hours ago

    Ambiguity, which means that the rules will bend in favour of the priviliged.

    Who sais MAGA women shot themselves in the foot? They dont want voting, they like fascism. Same for MAGA men. If they could withdraw from voting and let the king run the country uninterrupted, then they would gladly do so.

  • Pirate2377@lemmy.zip
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    13 hours ago

    “Don’t get married, women. Or you no longer have the right to vote!” – MAGA, apparently