Dear Editor:
Throughout our history, Americans have fought hard for the right to vote.
Several constitutional amendments extended the vote to non-propertied men (1828), to Black men (1870), to women (1920), residents of Washington D. C. (1961), and 18-year-olds (1971). None of these historic changes came without a fight.
Now a Republican controlled Congress threatens those rights. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVES) exemplifies the extremes to which MAGA Republicans will go to suppress voting.
The House of Representatives has passed it and it the Senate will soon vote on it. If it passes, millions of Americans will lose their votes.
Even though voter fraud is virtually non-existent, this draconian law
· Would require a passport or an original birth certificate to vote.
· Would place an undue burden on married women whose current married name may not match their birth certificate, requiring further unspecified documentation.
· Would require voters to register at a government office, outlawing voter registration drives, online registration, and mail-in registration.
· Would make voter-registration changes more difficult forAmericans moving into a new home or apartment, changing party, or updating a name. They would all have to go in-person to an election office with an original birth certificate or passport to make any changes.
This law is the equivalent of using a sledge hammer to crack an egg. More than 21 million American citizens do not have passports or birth certificates, and roughly 69 million American women have changed their names.
A passport does not supply any more information than a driver’s license, which also requires a birth certificate to obtain. Passports are just much more expensive:atleast $230 for pictures, processing, and an original birth certificate, not to mention added trips to obtain these documents.
Yet a driver’s license offers more information; a REAL ID-compliant license requires proof of citizenship status as well as a local address (which passports don’t).
MAGA Republicans are the biggest perpetrators of voting fraud with their attempts to suppress the vote. Stop Congress from stealing your vote. Call your Senators (Bernie Moreno 614-469-2083 and Jon Husted 202-224-3353) and demand that they vote NO on the SAVES Act.
Laurie Finke
Gambier, Ohio