Under current US law, it is illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal or state elections. However, Congress is about to vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act that requires all eligible voters to provide citizenship documentation in person to register to vote.
The requirements of the SAVE Act would unnecessarily burden many communities of eligible voters, including you. Anytime you move you would be required to bring your proof of citizenship in person to the Wood County Board of Elections Office (BOE) to update your voter registration. You would no longer be able to register to vote when you update your driver’s license at the BMV or do so online. You also wouldn’t be able to register to vote or update your registration at a voter registration drive in your community or mail in a form. Your only option would be to visit the BOE in person, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each county only has one board of elections office, making it even more difficult for citizens in rural areas who are further away, as well as for elderly or disabled voters who don’t drive to register in person.
What else would this law mean for citizens in Bowling Green and Wood County? For anyone whose name is different from what’s listed on their birth certificate, like women who’ve changed their name with marriage, there is no clear path for how they can prove their identity. If SAVE becomes law, millions of Ohioans are at risk of losing their right to vote. Your RealID that you may have already gotten (where you already produced citizenship documentation once), is not included in the list of valid proof of citizenship to register to vote even though you can use it to vote.
These requirements are wholly unnecessary, as citizenship is already verified by election officials before granting voter eligibility, and voter fraud is exceedingly rare. Please join the League of Women Voters of Bowling Green in telling your US Representative and both US Senators to vote no on the SAVE Act.
Sincerely,
Lee McLaird, President
Janet Parks, Past President
Lee Hakel, Past President
Board Members:
Anne Bullerjahn, Ellen Dalton, Lindsay Jo Durham, Katelyn Elliott, Erin Hatchel, Elayne Jacoby, Sharlyn Katzner, Florence Klopfenstein, Vassiliki Leontis, Ellen Scholl, Charlotte Scherer, Gale Swanka, and Karen Wood
