SAVE Act would silence American voters, mainly women

Wyoming isn’t called the Equality State for nothing. In 1869, Wyoming women struggled for and secured the right to vote here, years before statehood. We are justly proud that Wyoming was the first American state or territory to extend suffrage to women, putting them on equal political footing with men.

So why then are the two female members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation supporting a bill that would hurt women’s access to the polls?

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or so-called SAVE Act, already passed the U.S. House with an appalling “Aye” from Wyoming’s lone representative, Harriet Hageman. More correctly derided as the “Silencing Americans Act,” House Resolution 22 would suddenly require millions to produce passports or original birth certificates to prove citizenship when registering to vote or updating their registration. 

For no good reason. As the Brennan Center put it after meticulously studying many national elections, and finding incident rates between 0.0003% and 0.0025%, an American will more likely be struck by lightning than try to “impersonate another voter at the polls.” 

About 140 million Americans do not own passports and some 69 million married women’s surnames differ from those on their birth certificates, according to the Center for American Progress. More than 21 million Americans lack any readily available proof of citizenship. 

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters very much opposes SAVE. It would suppress votes from millions of eligible voters, especially women, seniors, students and people of color. Also, service members who move often and would have to provide strict documentary proof each time they re-register to vote. Military ID alone would not suffice. Nor would Tribal IDs cut it, as most don’t show birthplace. And disaster survivors; who knows where their papers are? Anyone with a name that has changed since birth: the 80% of women who change surnames upon marriage, trans people, others. Rural, working class, people of color or older voters are all less likely to hold a passport. The League is urging people to insist their senators oppose the SAVE Act. 

If SAVE passes, and you are among the 40% of Wyomingites who hold a passport, you might be in luck, if it’s current. Passports cost at least $165 to apply for and nearly that to renew. You have to get a professional picture, fill out papers and you may need an appointment. It takes weeks to get them. 

Sen. John Barrasso has not yet taken a stand on SAVE, but Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Hageman are all for HR 22. Why not? It doesn’t affect them. They kept their names upon marriage. 

So did I, but I don’t like SAVE and no one I know does, though not many have heard much about it. When SAVE does hit the radar screen, I foresee a lot of angry Wyomingites from any or no party. The Republicans pushing this anti-voter bill are theoretically big on family values and thus marriage. So how can they justify making it difficult for married women to vote? 

As if it isn’t already hard enough to vote. You must already (a) register with documentary proof, (b) educate yourself on the issues, (c) get a ballot by mail or go to the polls, (d) provide valid ID and (e) vote. Wyoming is one of only eight states that do not allow online voter registration. Reason: “election integrity.” 

The Heritage Foundation has found precisely four documented instances of voter fraud statewide over the last 25 years, during which time dozens of elections have occurred. All four were U.S. citizens! Two were convicted of false registration/fraudulent use of absentee ballots, one (a sitting state representative) used a phony address and pled guilty, and one was ineligible to vote since he was a convicted felon. 

Contrary to Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s assertions, Wyoming’s 23 elected county clerks competently keep voter rolls accurate and ensure that only eligible people vote. That’s still not good enough for Gray, whose sworn duty is to facilitate elections but instead delights in making voting unnecessarily difficult. Thanks to him and the Freedom Caucus, voting restrictions are having a heyday. A “crossover” voter must change their registration by mid-May, before candidates even declare. And now there’s a Wyoming version of SAVE, House Bill 156. Its challenge in federal court was recently dismissed without prejudice. That case can, and likely will, be refiled. For more changes, see “What’s New About Wyoming’s Elections,” put together by the Laramie County Clerk. You can, and should,  check the status of your registration by calling your county clerk. In Laramie County, the number is 307-633-4242. 

Wyomingites worried about SAVE are sending postcards to Barrasso and Lummis, saying the “Silencing Americans Act” is anti-democratic. They close with: “I stand with my fellow Wyomingites and Americans to demand that you pass national voting rights legislation such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, the Native American Voting Rights Act and DC Statehood.” 

Senate Republicans, terrified of Trump and scared about 2026 midterms, are about as into Washington, D.C.’s Statehood as they are into addressing global warming. Nevertheless, Congress needs to realize it is blundering badly with this insulting SAVE Act. American women are not going to accept being told to go away when they go to vote in 2026. 

Senators nationwide are now being told this: “We will never stand quietly as politicians attempt to prevent citizens from exercising their fundamental right to vote. Voting rights belong to everyone.” For my part, I’ve called and written both Lummis and Barrasso, asking for their current positions on this bad bill. I’ve also asked Barrasso to urge Lummis, a junior senator, to withdraw her early support.

Even quipping misogynists don’t have the gall to tell their wives to behave like most women had to before 1920, when the 19th Amendment, granting women suffrage nationwide, was adopted after a century of hard fighting. It reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Damn straight.

No Wyoming voter would be assisted by the SAVE Act. Time to call it a day for this sexist, hyper-partisan bill. We cannot allow elected officials to “pick voters” rather than us picking the winners at the polls. Just as our Founders intended.