The bill acknowledges potential issues with name changes affecting the requirement for proving citizenship during voter registration but delegates the responsibility to individual states to address.
CLEVELAND — We’ve been getting questions from 3News viewers about the SAVE Act, which is short for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility.
Questions have come up partly due to social media posts like this one, which has over 3.6 million views on TikTok.
THE CLAIM
In the video, TikTok user @SecretServiceSam says:
“Patriots they are trying to pass the SAVE Act, actually I believe they might have already passed it.
“If you are married and have changed your last name, your vote may be disqualified because your last name must match the one on your birth certificate. This is becoming a common issue, so make sure to check the requirements.”
SOURCES
To VERIFY the status of the SAVE Act, and what it could mean for anyone who has changed their name, we consulted the following sources:
- The proposed SAVE Act itself.
- An information sheet published by the legislation’s sponsor, Republican US Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas.
- The nonpartisan League of Women Voters,
- The Ohio Department of Health.
- Democratic U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, of Ohio.
EXPLANATION
The Congressional status page for the SAVE Act shows it’s being reviewed in committee, so it’s not a law yet.
If the legislation is enacted, the SAVE Act will demand evidence of American citizenship during voter registration and provides a list of acceptable documents for verification. A document from Roy’s office, the proponent of the SAVE Act, specifies that it “(d)irects states to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities and individuals facing discrepancies in their documentation due to name changes.”
According to the League of Women Voters, “83% of women change their last name when they marry and 69 million American women may not have a birth certificate with their legal name on it and would not be able to use their birth certificate to prove citizenship.” As the League of Women Voters correctly points out, the SAVE Act does not include proof of name change or marriage certificate as acceptable proof of identity.
The Ohio Department of Health website shows it is possible to update your birth certificate once you’ve legally changed your name, but it’s not clear how that update appears on the corrected birth record.
ANSWER
So when it comes to VERIFYING the status of the SAVE Act, we can tell you it has not already passed.
If it does pass, it might prevent married women who have changed their name (or anyone who has legally changed their name, for that matter) from registering to vote, at least without going through additional steps which aren’t spelled out in the SAVE Act itself.
The SAVE Act acknowledges that legal name change might be an issue with requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration, but leaves that problem to states to address.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The SAVE Act does allow for a passport to be used to prove citizenship. However, a significant number of American voters do not have a valid passport. According to the League of Women Voters:
“146 million American citizens do not have a valid passport (for context, 153 million Americans voted in the 2024 presidential election).
“In seven states, less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport.
“Lower income Americans would be dramatically affected: only 1 in 5 Americans with income below $50,000 have a valid passport.”
To give you an idea what opponents of the SAVE Act think, here’s what Ohio U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown told me:
“I’m opposed to the SAVE Act – I voted against it last year and will vote against it again if it comes back to the floor. The SAVE Act is not only unnecessary legislation, it is burdensome. It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote and this bill would create damaging hurdles to millions of Americans voting and create chaos for state election officials trying to enforce this vague and unfunded overhaul of election law. The SAVE Act is poorly written propaganda pushing Trump’s big lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The fact that we’re even asking these questions shows you that this is legislation that should be rejected.”
More information about Democratic opposition to the SAVE Act can be found here.
