They always come at you sideways. The 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote. Republicans have been pushing since early 2025 to get the SAVE Act passed. It would disenfranchise millions of people, but I want to focus on women in particular.

If the act passes and becomes a law, I would be purged from voter rolls because my last name does not match the last name on my birth certificate. Technically, if I jump through enough hoops and pay enough money I can get the documentation needed to register to vote again.

Although I was a vocal opponent of the measure, Nebraska passed a voter ID law in 2024. In order for me to vote early, I had to go show some ID. I took my passport in, signed a piece of paper that said “yeah this is Irene,” and took my ballot home, filled it out, and returned it in person the next day. I had the option to do it in the county clerk’s office or at home.

If I read the bill correctly, this doesn’t matter. If the SAVE Act is passed, I will need to go through this process all over again. Now, for me, it should theoretically be easy because I have a U.S. passport and it says I’m a citizen. However, my last name is different from the one on my birth certificate and it is unclear if I will need a copy of my birth certificate with a raised state seal, my marriage license with the raised seal, and my passport.

So, let’s pretend I need to do that because roughly half of all Americans do not have a passport.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice and the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, 21 million Americans do not have documents proving their citizenship readily available and 2.6 million Americans lack government-issued photo ID of any kind. Low-income and minority voters are more likely to lack the types of documents that would be required by a national voter ID law, leading to less voting participation by those groups.

Some states, such as Florida, do not accept the REAL-ID driver’s license as proof of citizenship. It is typically proof of ID to get on a plane though. States have their own laws about what is acceptable ID, so the process gets really confusing. The SAVE Act doesn’t clear any of it up.

For the sake of argument, let’s say I need to jump through those hoops again.

According to the Nebraska Secretary of State, if I have a Nebraska driver’s license, I’m good to go. Maybe. Again. My driver’s license has my married name. If the SAVE Act passes, I’m shit out of luck because the act requires my birth certificate and my voter ID to match. Maybe. If that amendment to the act passes.

The next step is if I don’t have an ID at all. Nebraska does provide free IDs, however, we must wait on the SAVE Act again to see if getting one is still going to screw women over. Also, even though it is free, there are requirements, including obtaining a birth certificate to prove citizenship, so let’s get to this.

First up: a birth certificate. I live in Nebraska. I was born in New York. It will cost $58.50 for the birth certificate and $58.43 to ship it for a total of $116.93. The system tells me it will take 140-150 days to process. The Nebraska primaries are on May 12, or 90 days from today.

Next is my Marriage License. Again, New York State wants the same fees, so add another $116.93 to the process.

Theoretically, with these two things in my hand and a couple of other paper ID things (pay stub, bank account in Nebraska, utility bills, etc.), I should be able to obtain a free Nebraska ID. Because I live in Scottsbluff, I can walk into the Scotts Bluff County DMV, wait in line, and get my ID. Well, in a few weeks. They’ll process everything and I wait for the ID to arrive in the mail sometime later. No, they can’t tell me when. Hopefully, before the general election in November.

If this all goes according to plan, I will have paid $233.86, for my free Nebraska ID and I can now go and vote. I can assure you, I know plenty of people in Nebraska who could not afford this and thus would be disenfranchised, their rights removed.

We all know the sensible answer is my name is on my passport and it matches the voter rolls. What we don’t know is if will matter. They claim, for the moment, it’s only for new voter registration, but enough media and watchdog organizations are shouting about it that I’m not so sure.

I am fortunate, that I have all of these documents in a safe place here at my home. If this idiotic law passes and I have to reregister, I just need to grab the documents and go to the county clerk’s office and get it sorted. I will curse the entire way because America does not have a voter fraud issue.

My three representatives in Nebraska are all MAGA. I receive form letters if I receive any response at all, so I don’t expect any help from them for any of their constituents who may need new ID in order to vote. This doesn’t just affect married women though. I’ve also demonstrated there is a huge cost involved, which affects millions of Americans. If you are already choosing between whether you can pay your bills and your medications, you don’t have hundreds of dollars to documents in order to vote. You just get pushed a little but farther out of society.

My grandma stopped driving at age 77. A few years later she renewed her driver’s license. I asked her why if she was never going to drive again. She said, “This is the only proof I have of who I am because they changed my name on my birth certificate when I was a baby and I don’t know how or if I can get a right one.”

I understand now, Gram. I’m sure the SAVE Act would still disenfranchise you though, since you took your husband’s name and all. And we’d both be cursing as we try to figure it out all over again.