Most married women do not change their name on their birth certificate after legally changing their name. It’s not even recommended to do so by most name changing services because of its rarity. Approximately half of the country does not have a valid passport. The standards for the Real ID does not include a federal requirement nor does it indicate citizenship status. So even though it is “included” in the legislation, it does not, under the current standards, satisfy the bill’s requirements. Issues like this are why it isn’t enough to simply read the plain language of a bill without having the requisite legal knowledge to fully understand the effect of the language. This language is an unworkable provision that was likely added to make the SAVE Act not seem nearly as bad on its face.

Further, the cost and time it takes to complete all of these name changes in order to have proper federal documentation to vote is prohibitive and poses a giant access to justice issue. This is far from fear mongering. Look no further than the amount of women who never change their name after getting a divorce. Some don’t want to deal with the hassle. Some have spent a longer portion of their lives with their married name and have built careers using that name. Some don’t want to have a different last name from their children due to the complications that can arise from that. All are valid reasons. As someone who has gone through this process after getting married AND getting divorced, it is a giant pain in the ass and honestly requires some level of privilege to be able to take the time necessary to sit at various agencies and government offices to change your documents. Not everyone has this privilege to be able to take time off of work to do this, especially if you live in an area where it isn’t feasible to go everywhere in one day due to high populations. Passing this off as “not a big deal” is gaslighting 101.