The GOP’s sweeping new anti-voting bill cleared the U.S. House Wednesday, setting up a high-stakes battle in the Senate.
The House voted 218-213 to pass the SAVE America Act, which experts have said could disenfranchise millions by requiring voters to show documentary proof of citizenship at registration and to provide photo ID when they cast ballots.
Republicans have argued for voter ID broadly, pointing out that there isn’t much to prevent a noncitizen from casting a ballot in a federal election — besides the fact that it’s a felony, easily caught, and would lead to deportation all for the chance to cast one out of hundreds of thousands of votes.
This is the United States, so they’re imposing a requirement that somebody not just have a state-issued photo ID, but have a birth certificate or passport which matches their current name. It’s very common for women to change their name when they get married, so the net effect if this passes is to prevent tens of millions of married women from voting.
Republicans want that because women are more likely to vote for Democrats than men.