Deluzio Votes No on Extreme Anti-Voter Republican Bill to Strip Voter Registration Rights from Millions of Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former voting rights attorney Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) voted no on the Republican anti-voter bill up for a vote in the House of Representatives today. If passed into law, the Republican SAVE Act could disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens and create unnecessary administrative burdens at the state and local levels. The measure's restrictions threaten to strip away the right to vote from tens of millions of eligible American voters, including nearly 70 million married women who changed their last name from their birth certificate and our troops who rely on their military ID or are deployed far from home. 

“This dangerous bill could block millions of American citizens—especially military servicemembers and married women—from voting in our country’s elections. Patriotic Americans should be outraged,” said Congressman Deluzio. “If House Republicans were serious about securing our elections, they could have accepted my amendment that would have provided free photo identification to all eligible American voters—but House Republicans didn’t even consider it. The Senate should reject this bill, and Congress should focus on the urgent work of fighting corruption and strengthening our democracy.” 

Congressman Deluzio's amendment was rejected without a vote by the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee. The text of the amendment is here.  

Pennsylvania’s Republican Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, who is the chief elections official for Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to Congressman Deluzio opposing the SAVE Act. In it, he writes that, “The right to vote is sacred, and making that right contingent on having access to paperwork a voter does not have in their possession, or which may include a name that the voter has long since changed, overly burdens this important right of citizenship, and will disenfranchise Americans seeking to make their voices heard at the ballot box.” 

Under the Republican SAVE Act, millions of American citizens could be blocked from voting. This bill requires that voters provide a passport, birth certificate with their current legal name, or military service papers in order to register, change their political party, or update their current address. It is unclear if these requirements would also apply to existing registered voters. Here are just some of the real-life impacts of this proposal: 

• More than 146 million Americans do not have a passport and would need to obtain one. U.S. passports typically cost around $130, require substantial time and effort to obtain, and take weeks to process and arrive. 
• Nearly 70 million women do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name. This means that married women without a U.S. passport would be unable to cast their ballot.
• In order to vote in the country they serve, servicemembers would be required to provide military service papers, often with sensitive information, alongside their military ID card, which is insufficient under the Republican bill
• This bill would remove the ability for Americans to register to vote by mail or online, even if the only reason is to update one’s party registration or address. This would require American citizens who want to register to vote to present their documents in person to an elections official. 
• This legislation would also subject state and local election officials to hefty criminal fines and up to five years in federal prison. These criminal penalties would apply even if the election official registers an eligible American citizen. 

More details on the bill’s impact on people in Pennsylvania is available from the House Committee on Administration. 

The bill passed the House of Representatives this morning on a vote of 220-208 and now advances for consideration in the Senate. 

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