Democratic Women’s Caucus Demands Speaker Johnson Scrap the SAVE Act, Legislation That Would Disenfranchise Millions of Women Voters

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democratic Women’s Caucus members Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Vice Chairs Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Hillary Scholten (MI-03), and Policy Task Force Co-Chairs Deborah Ross (NC-02) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) led 49 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson expressing their grave concerns with the SAVE Act and demanding he does not to bring it to the House floor for a vote. The bill is currently expected on the House floor next week.

The SAVE Act is advertised as a bill to prevent non-citizens from voting—a policy that is already law. In addition to being unnecessary the bill is incredibly harmful: it requires voters to present documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote. This would make it harder and more expensive for millions of citizens to register to vote, specifically women voters.

The bill provides no guidance for people who have changed their name since birth, including the nearly 70 million married women in the United States who have taken their spouses name and have not changed their birth certificate, which is not a required step in the legal name change process. Additionally, many women do not have passports to prove their citizenship either. This bill would make it exponentially harder for women across the country to register to vote.

This week, President Trump signed an Executive Order very similar in substance to the SAVE Act. This is the President’s unconstitutional attempt to implement the SAVE Act without Congress but with the same consequences—146 million Americans don’t have a passport and nearly 70 million women don’t have citizenship documents that display their current legal name. In early reactions to the Executive Order, legal experts have said Trump’s proposed changes are illegal, as they must be made through Congress. It is still expected that Republicans will bring the SAVE Act to the House floor.  

In their letter, the Members explain to Speaker Johnson how the SAVE Act would make it harder for women across the country to register to vote: 

“Women who take their spouse’s last name must go through multiple steps – first updating their Social Security record, then their driver’s license – but their birth certificate remains unchanged. The burden of additional paperwork and bureaucratic red tape will fall overwhelmingly on women who are balancing careers, families, and other responsibilities – making voting exceptionally difficult. In your home state of Louisiana, approximately 966,3762 women lack access to a valid birth certificate. Expecting millions of women to navigate yet another complex process just to exercise their right to vote is an unnecessary barrier that will disenfranchise millions of women voters.”

The Members continued:

“The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy. No American should be penalized for making a legal and overwhelmingly common decision to change their surname. We urge you to remove the SAVE Act from consideration and immediately address these issues to prevent the disenfranchisement of American women voters.”

The full letter can be accessed here:

In addition to letter leads Teresa Leger Fernández, Hillary J. Scholten, Emilia Strong Sykes, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, and Deborah K. Ross, the letter was signed by Nikema Williams, Jennifer L. McClellan, Julie Johnson, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Lauren Underwood, Nydia M. Velázquez, Delia C. Ramirez, LaMonica McIver, Andrea Salinas, Norma J. Torres, Jan Schakowsky, Judy Chu, Mikie Sherrill, Chellie Pingree, Jahana Hayes, Brittany Pettersen, Laura Friedman, Shontel M. Brown, Betty McCollum, Zoe Lofgren, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Emily Randall, Sarah Elfreth, Suzanne Bonamici, Sarah McBride, Frederica S. Wilson, Summer L. Lee, Veronica Escobar, Jasmine Crockett, Terri A. Sewell, Dina Titus, Sylvia R. Garcia, Diana DeGette, Kelly Morrison, Gwen S. Moore, Lori Trahan, Rashida Tlaib, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Sara Jacobs, Melanie Stansbury, Marilyn Strickland, Yassamin Ansari, Angie Craig, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Maxine Dexter, Robin L. Kelly, Julia Brownley, Mary Gay Scanlon, and Debbie Dingell.