The Republicans, now in control of the White House, both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, are moving on to the next step in Project 2025: controlling who will be allowed to vote. Their first shot over the bow of free and fair elections is to restrict and shrink who is allowed to vote and their current weapon is the SAVE Act.

Reasons Behind the SAVE Act

The SAVE Act would require every American to provide documentary proof of citizenship (“DPOC”) to register to vote in federal elections, even if that requires them to change or update their voter registration.

The first thing to know is that these requirements are wholly unnecessary because right now only U.S. citizens are allowed to participate in federal elections. In addition, every eligible voter is already required to verify their citizenship status when registering to vote

The problem for Republicans, of course, is that some voters pull the lever for the Democrats. They find this completely unacceptable because they consider only Republicans to be valid winners and authorized to serve in government. The challenge, therefore, is to keep those pesky Democratic voters from voting at all. Problem solved.

What the SAVE Act Does

Now, we all know that women tend to vote Democratic more often than Republican and that puts a target on American women. All the Republicans have to do is stop women from voting and they will have taken a big step toward permanent dominance of the electoral process.

To that end, the SAVE Act requires that voters present one or more of the following forms of ID as valid Documentary Proof of Citizenship:

1. A driver’s license or other state-issued identification that meets the requirements of the REAL ID Act and that indicates on its face that the holder is a U.S. citizen.
2. A valid U.S. passport.
3. An official U.S. military ID card, together with the applicant’s U.S. military service record showing that the applicant’s place of birth is within the U.S.
4. A valid photo ID card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government, showing the applicant’s place of birth was in the U.S.
5. A valid photo ID card issued by a Federal, State, or Tribal government, that does not show the applicant’s place of birth was in the U.S., accompanied by one or more of several additional documents. You can find a list of these additional documents in several places, including CAP.

The Married Woman Penalty

Understand all that? No? Well, if you are a married woman, all you need to know is this: The name on your birth certificate must match the name on your voter registration. If you took your husband’s name at marriage, as most women do, the names will not match. Approximately 84 percent of married women have their husband’s name.

That means you will need a REAL ID driver’s license and/or a valid United States passport. Many of us have those things already but many others do not. And they don’t come cheap. I haven’t priced all the documents but consider these two:

• REAL ID Massachusetts driver’s license: $75
• Valid U.S. passport: $160

A Valid U.S. Passport Needed

Well, a valid passport should be simple if you have the money. But 146 million Americans don’t have a U.S. passport. Rock the Vote says:

“Passport ownership is also highly correlated with income, education level, and race. Only 1 in 5 Americans has a household income below $50,000, and only 1 in 4 Americans  with a high school degree or less have valid passports. Two-thirds of Black Americans lack a valid passport.”

Now, for many folks with a disposable income, those are affordable charges, but not for everyone. Plus, to get a driver’s license, you have to take driving classes, pass a test, and have access to a car. You also need access to a Registry of Motor Vehicles office so you can take the test. For some valid United States citizens, those are expensive and insurmountable obstacles,

Or, you can change your name back to your maiden name so that both names match again. That means going through a court name change proceeding.

Once you have those documents in hand, you are required to go to your local elections office and re-register to vote.

Obstacles to Voting Under the SAVE Act

Now imagine that you are not a gainfully employed middle-class person who has disposable income and owns a car.

• Let’s pretend you’re an elderly man who lives in the inner city and doesn’t own a car. You have access to public transportation but you don’t walk very well and moving around is painful.
• What if you are a young married woman who has never traveled overseas and prefers ride-shares to buying a car?
• How about if $160 for a passport means the difference between buying food or medicine for your kids and being able to vote?

Are you beginning to get the picture? If the Republicans can stop all those likely Democratic voters from casting a ballot, they increase their party’s chance of winning significantly.

The SAVE Act would disproportionately suppress the votes of young people, people of color, married women and people from low- or no- income backgrounds. And it would do that by imposing what constitutes an illegal poll tax and by placing insurmountable obstacles in the way of whole classes of people.

Likelihood the SAVE Act Will Pass

The SAVE Act has already passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 220 to 208 and is currently awaiting consideration in the Senate and is on its way to the U.S. Senate. The Senate has a Republican majority of 53 to 47. What is the likelihood the Democrats can summon six votes plus Vice President Vance to defeat this discriminatory legislation.

Everyone’s best course of action is to plan ahead of the midterms and prepare. Get the documentation you need. Don’t wait until the last minute to re-register to vote. Also, don’t think this won’t happen. Or that it won’t happen to you.

The Republican War on Women continues. The SAVE Act moves it several steps closer to its goal of taking rights and power away from American women–starting with voting.

We have to fight for our rights. No one is coming to save us. We have to do it for ourselves.