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Tell Your Members of Congress to Oppose the SAVE Act
The House and Senate introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require citizenship documentation to register to vote despite the fact that voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering.
It is already illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal or state elections.
Additionally, we have processes to ensure our elections are secure and that only eligible voters are casting ballots. State election officials have systems to verify an individual voter’s eligibility and ensure voter rolls are accurate.
The bill’s requirement of a document to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections is unnecessary and seeks to divide us. Further, it creates one more barrier to the voting process, as many eligible voters do not have easy access to the necessary documents. 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. They often face difficulties accessing them. For example, while approximately half of all American adults possess a passport, two-thirds of Black Americans do not.
Legislation like the SAVE Act is another in a long list of tactics, like strict voter photo ID requirements and limitations on voter assistance in languages other than English, which seek to make it more difficult for voters of color and naturalized citizens to vote. Americans do not need MORE obstacles to voting.
Congress must act to ensure that every eligible US citizen has the freedom to vote unimpeded by discriminatory rules rooted in fear and division.
Calling your Representative is the best way to make your voice heard.
For more information and a detailed explanation of the proposed law and it’s implications, go to Congresswoman Jahana Hayes’s website and read her well written and researched letter. Here is the link.
Congressman Tom McClintock—(916) 786-5560 or (202) 225-2511
Senator Adam Schiff—(202) 224-3841
Senator Alex Padilla—(202) 224-3553
For more information and a detailed explanation of the proposed law and it’s implications, go to Congresswoman Jahana Hayes’s website and read her well written and researched letter. Here is the website where this additional information can be found. https://hayes.house.gov/_cache/files/1/e/1ef58a7a-8d38-442c-b496-ea8fbddecb53/8FD4003154EED301437EE7C16F3D9BA4.save-act-section-by-section.pdf.
LWVML’s Letter to the Editor
Published in the Union Democrat on March 29th
Regarding the SAVE Act
Congress will soon discuss the so-called SAVE Act. It saves nothing, but it does attempt to prevent voting in federal and state elections.
Some states have been putting up barriers to voting for many years. Some want to exclude those who, in their opinion, may not vote for the “correct” candidates or issues. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) is meant to discourage voting rather than to assure that everyone who is eligible can vote.
The SAVE Act would discourage citizens from exercising their right to vote by:
·Eliminating the ability to register to vote by mail or online;
·Not allowing states to accept or process voter registration applications without first receiving documentary proof of citizenship. Acceptable IDs would be limited. Many current state IDs would no longer be acceptable such as driver’s licenses, military IDs, and Tribal IDs. Not every American has a passport. Requiring people who have changed their names due to marriage or other reasons to present proof, in person, at the elections office or the polls, that they are the same person who previously registered. Most married women and some men have changed their last names, and a birth certificate would not reflect that change. The SAVE Act is likely to pass. It has been referred to a House Committee.
The SAVE Act does not Safeguard American Voter Eligibility. It confuses the voting public and discourages participation in the voting process at a time when institutions of democracy are being threatened.
Your vote is your voice, and you deserve to be heard.
Let our Congressman Tom McClintock and our Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff know how you feel about the SAVE Act and how it restricts your freedom.
Brenda R. McHenry President, League of Women Voters of the Mother Lode
Thank you Brenda and LWVML Board for this important action.
ur Members of Congress to Oppose the SAVE Act
These and Senate introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require citizenship documentation to register to vote despite the fact that voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering.
It is already illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal or state elections.
Additionally, we have processes to ensure our elections are secure and that only eligible voters are casting ballots. State election officials have systems to verify an individual voter’s eligibility and ensure voter rolls are accurate.
The bill’s requirement of a document to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections is unnecessary and seeks to divide us. Further, it creates one more barrier to the voting process, as many eligible voters do not have easy access to the necessary documents. 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. They often face difficulties accessing them. For example, while approximately half of all American adults possess a passport, two-thirds of Black Americans do not.
Legislation like the SAVE Act is another in a long list of tactics, like strict voter photo ID requirements and limitations on voter assistance in languages other than English, which seek to make it more difficult for voters of color and naturalized citizens to vote. Americans do not need MORE obstacles to voting.
Congress must act to ensure that every eligible US citizen has the freedom to vote unimpeded by discriminatory rules rooted in fear and division.
Calling your Representative is the best way to make your voice heard.
Congressman Tom McClintock—(916) 786-5560 or (202) 225-2511
Senator Adam Schiff—(202) 224-3841
Senator Alex Padilla—(202) 224-3553