I will not lie and tell you the last few months have been rough. I know my privilege and will not come across as a whiny little bitch. I know these last few months have been much more challenging for my LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones. More alarming to my black friends. I have a BA in History folks and what I am seeing every day in America is wildly reminiscent of Germany in the 1930’s. We are watching history repeat itself in real time.
Americans have sold out to satisfy their own raging, hiding-in-plain-site racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. A piece of garbage con man who has an AWFUL makeup artist (or maybe must honestly hate him based on the way he shows up in public) has won the hearts of many… and many of them are frankly mediocre white men who want to blame less fortunate people for their “strife.” I no longer entertain the opinions of these kind of people; but that is a post for another day.
In the meantime, I want to address some FACTS.
Facts are important, friends.
Facts are no longer the main meal offered up on nightly news and 24 hour “news” stations.
And before you go stuttering and stammering about how CNN and MSNBC are just as bad, understand that I agree. I listen to NPR. Many on the right think NPR is left-leaning but what they cannot seem to grasp is that not only is their news pretty balanced, but that they present FACTS, not OPINIONS. MAGA is so steeped in their right-wing brainwashing that they cannot help but label anything even one step left of their lunacy as “liberal BS.” Someday, I hope they will see the light; wake up and leave the cult. In the meantime, I am going to lay some facts on you. Give you a chance to form an opinion based on these same facts.
The SAVE Act was introduced into Congress by Texas Representative Chip Roy. Chip is a Republican.
SAVE stands for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility. The bill requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. Specifically, the bill prohibits states from accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant presents documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. It was first introduced (and passed) during the 118th Congress, but failed to pass the Senate because of a Democratic majority.
The bill was re-introduced in the house during the latest 119th Congress on 1/3/2025.
Currently, Republicans hold a majority in both the House and the Senate. The chances of this bill passing are higher due to this FACT.
Now, dear reader, you might be thinking that this bill sounds like a good idea. Of course we want only US citizens voting in our federal elections. We would not want a whole slew of Russians voting in our presidential elections, now would we?
However, the FACT of the matter is that there currently already exist at the state level, safeguards that already ensure this. This bill is, in FACT, redundant. For example, here in New York, where I happen to live, the requirements to register to vote are as follows:
- You must be 18 years old
- You must present a valid driver’s license or other state-issued identification
- You must provide a Social Security number
- You must provide the zip code of where you live
Here’s another pesky FACT. Undocumented individuals (or illegals as folks like to call them), DO NOT have Social Security numbers. Therefore, they CANNOT register to vote; no matter how much Fox News tells you differently. It has been proven again and again and again that there was NOT massive voter fraud or undocumented individuals voting in 2016, 2020 or 2024.
So right around now, you might be asking yourself, what’s this got to do with me? And why is our favorite mid-life blogger so fired up about this? Well, let me lay some more facts on you.
The SAVE Act stipulates that Americans will have to re-register to vote. This on its face is enough of a pain to detract people from voting. But beyond that, to register (or re-register) to vote, a citizen must provide a birth certificate with a surname that MATCHES your current name OR a US Passport. A Social Security number and driver’s license (or other state-issued ID) will no longer suffice.
Right off the bat, I challenge all of you to be able to easily provide your birth certificate. If you can, great! Now, does it match your current last name?
You see, this is where it gets more tricky. The bill does not make any provisions for women who have taken their husband’s surname after marriage. So, even if you do have your birth certificate handy, if you have changed your name after getting married, you cannot register to vote (unless you have a passport, of course). The bill makes no mention or provision for using a marriage certificate to prove a name change.
Some more facts:
- More than 80% of American women change their last name to their husband’s last name after marriage and their surname NO LONGER matches the name on their birth certificate
- If you get divorced and want to change your name back to your maiden name, it must be WRITTEN in your divorce decree. And even then, the amount of hoops you have to jump through to change it back can be mind-boggling. Trust me, I know from first-hand experience.
- Overall, only 51% of Americans have a valid passport
- Only 1 in 4 Americans with a high school degree or less have a valid passport
- Only 1 in 5 Americans with income below $50,000 have a valid passport; at $165, a passport is simply too expensive for some people to obtain
- Americans most likely to have a passport are those over 30 and with a college degree
Interestingly enough, this bill may serve to backfire on the GOP. The FACT is that Republicans are less likely to possess a passport, and conservative and Republican-leaning women are twice as likely to have changed their surname.
In conclusion, I will leave you with one final fact. We all know the orange fuckwit tried to distance himself during the 2024 campaign from Project 2025. If you don’t know about Project 2025, please for the love of Dwayne Johnson, look it up.
One of the points of Project 2025 was the desire to implement in the US a voting system where only the head of the household could vote. So, the SAVE Act would certainly make that a lot simpler, no? It has been no secret among the far right that they would like to overturn the 19th Amendment.
To that I say FUCK YOU; you will have to drag me out of the voting booth kicking and screaming. I do not intend to be invisible in this fight at all.
Oh, and in conclusion, Elon Musk can eat a big bag of dicks. That’s a fact.
Resist Invisible 