1. United States
2. Ky.
3. Letter

I urge you to vote against the SAVE Act (HB22), which would require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. This legislation threatens my ability to vote as a married woman, along with millions of other eligible citizens who may face barriers obtaining the required documentation. The SAVE Act mandates that voters present documents like birth certificates, passports, or naturalization certificates before registering. For married women, this creates a significant problem. Many of us have birth certificates in our maiden names that no longer match our current legal names. Obtaining updated documentation or the additional marriage certificates needed to prove the name change imposes burdensome costs and administrative hurdles that effectively function as a barrier to voting. This legislation provides no hardship exceptions or alternative verification methods, creating rigid requirements that could disenfranchise eligible voters. The bill also contains no federal funding for implementation, leaving states to absorb the substantial costs of new verification systems while voters bear the expense of obtaining required documents. These costs raise serious constitutional concerns under the Twenty-Fourth Amendment's prohibition on poll taxes. The SAVE Act solves a virtually non-existent problem while creating real obstacles for eligible citizens. The legislation will disproportionately affect not just married women, but also elderly voters, low-income individuals, and naturalized citizens who may struggle to obtain decades-old records. States will face the massive undertaking of retroactively verifying millions of existing registrations without federal support. I ask you to protect my fundamental right to vote by opposing the SAVE Act. Eligible citizens should not face unnecessary barriers to participating in our democracy simply because bureaucratic documentation requirements make registration prohibitively difficult or expensive.