Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned women about the House bill that only says could make it difficult for women to vote.
The American Voters Qualifications (SAVE) Act – passed Thursday with 220-208 votes in the House of Representatives – requires evidence of citizenship to vote in federal elections and imposes a voter roll purge requirement on the state.
Clinton was the first woman to lead a presidential ticket for a major party, and said the bill could effectively deprive women whose names of their marriages do not match the names on their birth certificates.
“The house just passed Republican voter suppression measures that threaten vote access for millions of Americans, including 69 million women whose married names don't match their birth certificates,” former Secretary of State Clinton wrote Thursday.
“Make sure the senator expects him to oppose it,” she added.
Prior to Thursday's House vote, Clinton posted a similar message, urging women to call home representatives and encourage them to vote against the bill.
She attached a graphic showing the estimated number of female citizens over the age of 15 in each state whose birth certificates do not match the name “due to changes in surnames or hyphenation at marriage.”
“Are you the woman who changed your name when you got married? Congress is considering a bill that could make it much more difficult for you to vote for. Call your representative. This is not a drill,” she wrote Wednesday.
Republicans argue that only citizens vote and that the bill is needed to restore confidence in the integrity of the election.
Democrats argued that the bill was a false effort to ban already illegal practices, and would only make it difficult for Americans to vote, including many people who don't have easy evidence of citizenship.
The bill accepts certified birth certificates along with government-issued photo IDs as proof of citizenship. They will also accept US passports as evidence of citizenship. Some Democrats note that almost half of Americans don't have US passports, which costs more than $100.
