Women are going to have a tough time registering to vote if a new Executive Order and the House-passed SAVE Act are enacted.
President Trump’s March 25 Executive Order* requires those registering to vote to provide a passport or similar documentation proving citizenship. According to The Center for American Progress,** The SAVE Act “would require all Americans to prove their citizenship by presenting documentation in person when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information.”
The Center says, “More than 140 million Americans do not possess a passport, and as many as 69 million women, who have taken their spouse’s name, do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name…These women lack citizenship documents showing their original names, because they changed their names after marriage, and their birth certificates do not match their current IDs.”
The US League of Women Voters responded to the Executive Order by filing suit in April. In League of Women Voters et.al. v. Trump et.al,*** a federal court judge has issued a temporary stay “blocking the US Election Assistance Commission from…adding a requirement to show a passport or similar document proving citizenship when registering to vote…The injunction preserves the status quo where…voters already affirm under penalty of perjury that they are US citizens.”
The Sashes Rise Again
One hundred years ago when women rallied for equal voting rights, sashes were often worn by suffragettes during parades, rallies and other events as a way to bring attention to their cause. A simple phrase “Votes for Women” drew attention to their message and helped to unify them with each other and their supporters. The colors of the sashes were symbolic – with purple for loyalty, white for purity and gold for light and hope. Through their hard work and persistence, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote in elections, was passed on August 19, 1920.
Notably, the League of Women Voters (LWV) was established on February 14, 1920, in that same year. To celebrate the League’s 100th anniversary and the passage of the 19th Amendment, the LWV Mid Shore, Maryland, distributed replica sashes to storefronts in Cambridge and Easton. The sashes were made by Cambridge resident Anne McAnulty and lettered by Margaret and George Anzalone.
Now, after a century, the right of women and other citizens to vote is once again in jeopardy. In response, the League of Women Voters-Mid Shore will resurrect the sashes worn by the Suffragettes calling for “Votes for Women”. “Now, we will proudly wear our sashes in solidarity with those Suffragettes and the many others who fought for voting rights. As we work in the community to register voters, promote civic education, empower voters and defend democracy, the LWV-Mid Shore members will proudly wear our sashes in support of voting rights” said past president Kathi Bangert.
Glenna Heckathorn
Dorchester County
0 Responses
I believe Trump & bros will have kicked the hornet’s nest if they try to disenfranchise women.
But I thought that about free speech, about due process, and now about habeas corpus, so maybe women won’t care?
The only women who will not care are Trump devoted. Any woman who votes for Trump is
self loathing.
Read the great Dorothy Thompson piece from 1944: Harper’s Magazine “Who are Nazis” . Still applies!!
Thank you for this letter, Glenna. The American Association of University Women stands proudly with The League of Women Voters in favor of the right to vote of all citizens, including women who have taken their husbands’ names. This law is onerous for everyone, but it is especially injurious to women.
Let us preserve democracy, equal rights under the law, free speech, and investigative journalismthat speaks truth to power.
Thank you for posting this noteworthy initiative. The Spy has covered issues important to our democracy diligently.
Christina Mills
This article is patently absurd. No one is going to be disenfranchised by demanding proof of citizenship to register to vote. Many women use their maiden name as their middle name now. When you get your drivers license which is approved by the government to be able to fly you have already proved your identity. This is another attempt by the left to come up with some reason to bash Trump. Grow up!
You are wrong. The law would require people looking to register to vote to provide passports or birth certificates — and, for citizens who don’t have those documents at their disposal, acquiring them costs both money and time. Thus, the so-called SAVE Act would undermine voting rights and block some citizens from the ballot box. The Center for American Progress reports that approximately 146 million American citizens don’t own a passport. But that’s not all. The bill would make it harder for the tens of millions of spouses who have changed their last names through marriage to vote because, for example, the name on their birth certificate won’t match the name they use to vote. And the SAVE Act’s in-person registration requirement would force roughly 60 million rural residents to drive far from home to become eligible to vote.
Why are you so afraid of everyone voting?
The Real ID does not show citizenship unless it is an “Enhanced” Real ID which a few boarder states have so that the Enhanced Real ID acts as a kind of passport to allow travel to and from Canada and Mexico. The regular Real ID does not allow for ANY international travel. Even a military ID does not state that the person is a citizen. I don’t know for sure but I bet the percent of non-citizens voting is as low or lower than fraudulent voting (people voting twice, voting a dead person’s ballot) so this order and the bill passed by the House are not needed.