This week H.R. 22 — the voter suppression bill Republicans all the SAVE Act, but is actually a voter suppression bill — will be voted on in the House. Put simply, this is the biggest threat to voting rights we’ve seen in a generation. This bill would require every voter to show proof of citizenship bearing their current name when registering to vote.
Indivisible cites these ramifications:
> Overnight, it would essentially end online and mail-in voter registration.
> Proof of citizenship doesn’t mean a simple driver’s license. It means a birth certificate or a passport – documents that tens of millions of citizens simply don’t have access to.
> Married people who’ve changed their names wouldn’t be able to register using their original birth certificates — effectively disenfranchising millions of women.
> Trans and nonbinary people who’ve changed their names to reflect their gender identity would also face massive challenges to voting — and the State Department’s ban on updating sex designations on passports (if upheld in court) would add to the difficulty of satisfying the bill’s proof of citizenship requirements.
>The burdensome requirements would disproportionately impact younger voters (how many college students do you know who have a birth certificate stashed in their dorm rooms?), voters of color, low-income voters, and elder voters.