To the editor:
I am writing regarding the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act which just passed the US House and is headed for the US Senate. I urge you to contact all senators to demand their vote against this dangerous legislation.

Proponents of this bill are under the mistaken impression that voter fraud is rampant in our federal elections. Current regulations impose penalties which are far more consequential than a single vote would be worth. And these regulations are proven to work. Estimates for substantiated voter fraud vary from 0.0002% to 0.0045% nationally. Less than 0.0001% of fraudulent votes are cast by non-US citizens. Even in the most closely contested presidential election in history, these votes would not have influenced the outcome.

The SAVE Act is simply unnecessary, but its effects would be devastating. It amends previous laws creating new problems all under the guise of preventing a problem that does not exist. Would you take medication for an illness that you don’t have? The side effects from the SAVE Act would be just as dangerous and long-lasting.

In addition to declaring it a punishable crime for well-intentioned poll workers to make clerical errors, the legislation eliminates automatic voter registration at the DMV, has no phase-in period or funding for their increased responsibility.

The Act will require workers to document proof of US citizenship for every voter. This proof may be in the form of a US Passport, a Real ID, a military ID card, or a tribal ID card. A driver’s license is acceptable as proof of US citizenship only if presented with one of the following: an adoption decree, original hospital birth records, or a birth certificate with the full name of both parents, the raised seal of the issuing county, and an actual signature. Copies are not valid. Millions of US citizens do not have this documentation and would become ineligible to vote immediately.

Eight of ten married women have changed their surname, and 69 million American women do not have paperwork that reflects their current name. Does your mother have the same name she was born with? Your wife? You? Do you believe that the women you care about are entitled to have an opinion and exercise their 19th Amendment rights?

The population that would be most impacted by this legislation is not the miniscule percentage of people believed to be fraudulently voting non-citizens. There is independent corroborating data from multiple non-partisan sources showing that non-citizen fraud, indeed all suspected voter fraud, is statistically insignificant.

Make no mistake, it is women voters who will be disproportionately barred from participating in our constitutional democracy. And in numbers that can and will influence the outcome of future elections.

In the words of Abigail Adams, I urge you to “Remember the Ladies…If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

Jennifer Trachtman
Warren