The SAVE Act passed the House on Feb. 11, 2026 by a vote of 218-213 and is now in the Senate awaiting a vote. Voting is expected to take place next week, according to Thune. If and when it passes the Senate, it will go to the president for a final signature.
Will SAVE Act Prevent Married Women from Registering to Vote?
Posted on February 28, 2025
Q: Is it true that under the SAVE Act married women will not be able to register to vote if their married name doesn’t match their birth certificate?
A: The proposed SAVE Act instructs states to establish a process for people whose legal name doesn’t match their birth certificate to provide additional documents. But voting rights advocates say that married women and others who have changed their names may face difficulty when registering because of the ambiguity in the bill over what documents may be accepted.
It may stop them from voting depending on the requirements surrounding the birth certificate. The format of certain features or seals are not consistent across the US. Local laws in one place may require something which is not done in the place a person was born. My mother deals with that frequently and I had some issues with that previously. Even of she purchased a replacement birth certificate it would still follow the "wrong" format.
Yeah, I couldn't even get photo ID because the state I was born in used a "certificate of birth" and the state I was living in required a "birth certificate".
It took months to resolve the issue and I only got it fixed by doing a surprise 3 way phone call between offices in both states and had to listen to them argue about it for nearly 20mins. Even then I think I only got my ID because the person in my state was fed up and just wanted to go home for the day.
I would be similarly screwed if I lived where you did because I'm pretty sure mine is a "certificate of live birth" (separate from the unofficial document of the same name)
I could see this as a huge problem as well. Plus, you usually have to go in person to pick up those birth certificates. So you live in Florida but born in California. Now you're making a 2k mile trip to vote. I'm sure there are Mail alternatives, but that's just another barrier to add in.