A Republican-backed voting bill approved by the U.S. House last year could make registering to vote more complicated for millions of Americans—particularly married women who changed their last names.
The proposal, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, would require people to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. Critics warn that this could hit hardest when a voter’s current legal name doesn’t match the name on their birth certificate—creating extra steps for anyone who has changed their name through marriage or other legal processes.
The issue gained traction online after Threads user @jensbooks247 posted: “If this passes in the Senate and you took your husbands last name, you cannot vote. If your name differs at all from what’s on your birth certificate, you CANNOT. VOTE.”
Responses ranged from alarm to pushback. One user called it “inexcusable” that the bill advanced, while another said she intentionally kept her surname because she worried about documentation issues. Others argued that legal name changes don’t prevent voting as long as voters have the correct paperwork, and some noted that U.S. passports can serve as proof of citizenship.
To sort out what the legislation would actually require, Newsweek spoke with Caroline Welles, executive director and founder of The First Ask, an organization focused on electing first-time female candidates and advocating on voting issues.
Welles said the concern is real—but also more nuanced than some viral claims suggest.
“The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, and women whose current identification doesn’t match their birth certificate—i.e. women who took their spouses’ last names—would need to provide additional documentation like marriage certificates, creating an extra administrative barrier,” Welles said.
Under current federal proposals, acceptable proof could include a U.S. passport, certain REAL ID cards that indicate citizenship, a birth certificate, or other federal documents that clearly establish U.S. citizenship. The key issue, Welles said, is that many common IDs—like a driver’s license—don’t explicitly prove citizenship, even for eligible voters.
That means citizens could be asked to provide additional documents to bridge the gap between their current identification and the records that show citizenship status. For many married women, that could involve presenting a marriage certificate alongside a birth certificate—or using a passport—to demonstrate that a name change is valid and consistent.
Welles also said the burden would be felt most by women facing multiple barriers at once, including Native American women born on reservations; rural or low-income women who may struggle to access vital records; women born in U.S. territories where documentation can be more complex; and survivors of domestic violence who may have left without key documents.
“This is part of a broader pattern where seemingly ‘neutral’ voting policies have deeply gendered and racialized impacts,” Welles said.
Supporters of the SAVE Act say the goal is election integrity and ensuring only U.S. citizens are registered to vote. Opponents—including a coalition of state attorneys general—argue the requirement could roll back decades of progress that made voter registration easier, forcing eligible citizens to obtain potentially costly or hard-to-replace documents under strict deadlines just to participate.
With Democrats and progressives posting stronger-than-expected performances in 2025’s special and off-year elections and eyes turning toward 2026, critics say adding paperwork hurdles that fall unevenly on eligible voters—especially women—could discourage participation rather than strengthen democracy.
