To me the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution is our right to vote. It is core to our democracy, yet a bill that will be voted on soon in Congress is intended to take away that right for potentially 20 million Americans. Given that the presidential election was determined by only 2.3 million votes, it is easy to see how a disenfranchisement of this magnitude could skew election results for many elections to come. This bill is simply Un-American. The importance of defeating the SAVE Act can hardly be overstated.

The bill’s backers say it is designed to ensure the integrity of elections by assuring that non-citizens don’t vote, even though that very rarely happens. On the surface the SAVE Act could seem reasonable enough, though un-necessary because there are already laws that prevent that. However, it is anything but reasonable. For anyone registering to vote for the first time or changing their registration, such as their address, the SAVE Act would require your birth certificate, or passport, or naturalization papers with your current name to be presented in person. This is very effective voter suppression designed to take away people’s right to vote or current eligibility. Think about the consequences:

• At least 20 million eligible voters don’t have ready access to these documents, so they would be effectively barred from voting.
• Millions of women, who often change names when marrying, could be hampered or barred from registering or even changing their address to their current polling place.
• Young people, (especially college students who likely don’t take birth certificates with them to college), elderly, and people of color would be disproportionately affected. Military voting overseas would be harder.
• Registration online or by mail, or automatic registration with your driver’s license, would end, making voting harder and more restricted.

Whether you think this is fair or not, politically, the GOP backers of the SAVE Act are certain this will skew in their favor. If you agree, I hope you will join me in calling or writing our Vermont members of Congress to thank them for opposing this bill. They need to know how concerned we are. More importantly it is urgent that we contact our friends and family in other states this week and tell them: 1) urge their Republican senators not to vote for this bill, and 2) tell Democratic senators to be unified in opposing the bill, which will certainly be filibustered and defeated if Senate Democrats hold firm. (It probably will pass the House and move to the Senate this week.)

The SAVE Act is not just dirty politics; it is the worst voter suppression bill in a generation. It is a moral issue of the highest order, and we as Americans should reject this as just plain Un-American and un-patriotic behavior. We might expect this in a third world banana republic, but coming from the Republican Party, this is simply outrageous. I hate to sound so partisan, but with our democracy and freedoms hanging in the balance, it is critical that we tell this like it is and recognize that we are all in this together against the rich and powerful. Millions of good Americans have been lied to and manipulated into voting against their own best interest and the interest of the country. It is time for this to end before it is too late.

Howard Jennings

Bristol