A few weeks ago I sat down with my friend Pat Schraff to talk about the SAVE Act, and what I thought I was doing was one episode about names. About what women have historically had taken from them, and what it means when the name on your birth certificate is no longer the name you have answered to for forty years. I thought we would say what we had to say and move on.
Then the messages started coming, and they did not stop. What you wanted was not more about names. You wanted to know what this bill actually does.
So I called Tera Coleman. She is counsel at Baker Hostetler, she practices in both state and federal courts, and she and I had already been having this conversation offline for weeks, both of us circling the same thing and not quite able to explain it.
We begin where I think we have to begin, which is with how elections in this country actually work. Who runs them, and where the line sits between what a state decides and what the federal government can reach into. Tera takes us through what is written in the bill, and then through the piece I had not heard anyone talking about, which is what all of this would ask of the people who show up to work our polling places.
Everybody wants fair elections. That is the cornerstone of our democracy, and I have not met a person on either side who would say otherwise. But the SAVE Act runs the risk of disenfranchising a great many American citizens in order to solve for a very, very small number of non-citizens registering. I am still looking for the logic in that. I am still looking for the need.
And I have to wonder about the push. The urgency. Why this bill, why now, with an election in front of us.
Then there is the Department of Homeland Security holding our voter records. Our names, our addresses, whether we voted, and in many states which party we registered with. I keep sitting with that one. Does that make sense to you? Does it feel safe? Can it be trusted? And what happens to the rest of us if it is not.
You may hear all of this and come out somewhere different than I did, and that is fine. I just do not want any of us going into November having only been told what to think.
Part 1 with attorney Pat Schraff is worth hearing first if you have not yet.
Keep Going
If this episode stirred something in you, these conversations may be a good place to go next:
The SAVE Act and Women’s Names: Voting Rights, Marriage and the Law
A conversation on women and the identity of a name, history and the law on women and their name.
A Belief that Choice You: Propaganda, Cognitive Dissonance and Thinking for Yourself
Women Are Better Investors — Money, Psychology & the Conversations We’ve Been Avoiding
Because money, identity, power, and freedom are never as separate as we were taught to believe.
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Resources Mentioned
Tera Coleman
Drawing from hands-on litigation experience, Tera Coleman represents clients in state and federal court, handling all aspects of litigation from inception to settlement and trial. She has considerable experience defending clients in tort and commercial litigations, as well as white collar investigations. She utilizes a strategic global approach to matters, understanding that clients’ individual needs are unique in all situations.
Fish v. Schwab (formerly Fish v. Kobach) — the Kansas case
https://www.aclu.org/cases/fish-v-schwab-formerly-fish-v-kobach
H.R. 22 — SAVE Act, full bill text
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text
Congressional Research Service explainer (IF12902) — nonpartisan overview of the SAVE Act and federal voter registration law
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12902
Campaign Legal Center — “What You Need to Know About the SAVE Act”
https://campaignlegal.org/update/what-you-need-know-about-save-act
NCSL: 9 Things to Know About the Proposed SAVE America Act
A helpful overview of the proposed bill and what it could mean for voter registration, proof of citizenship, and election administration.
Congress.gov: H.R. 22 / SAVE Act
The official federal bill page for those who want to read the legislative language directly.
Brennan Center: Noncitizen Voting and the Data
A resource on what the documented evidence shows about noncitizen voting in U.S. elections.
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