New Warnock Report Finds SAVE Act Imposes Poll Tax on Millions of Married American Women

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock released a new report examining the extra hurdles married women would need to go through to register or update their voter registration if the SAVE Act became law Senator Warnock’s new report finds that, in Georgia, married women could pay up to $75 in administrative and processing fees to obtain the documents required to vote Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are attempting to impose a “Marriage Tax” on millions of American women across the country The SAVE Act disproportionately harms married women who have changed their legal name by requiring them to produce both their birth certificate and marriage license to register or re-register to vote Senator Reverend Warnock: “They’re not trying to save our democracy. They’re not trying to save our elections. They’re trying to save Donald Trump’s power” Washington, D.C. – Today, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), one of the Senate’s leading advocates for voting rights, released a new report examining the costly and time-intensive process married women in eight Georgia counties would have to navigate to verify their voter status under the SAVE America Act. The proposed bill requires women who have changed their last names to present their birth and marriage certificates to meet voter verification requirements. The report found women who do not have these documents readily available could pay up to $75 in administrative and processing fees and wait over 3 months to receive the required identification materials. “ This is a poll tax on married women,” said Senator Warnock on MSNOW’s Deadline White House. “They’re not trying to save our democracy. They’re not trying to save our elections. They’re trying to save Donald Trump’s power.” The SAVE America Act purports to protect election integrity but instead imposes unnecessary restrictions that would disenfranchise over 760,000 Georgians and millions more nationwide through its onerous requirements. While the SAVE America Act disproportionately impacts married women, men and unmarried women are also subject to voter suppression under the proposed bill. For the more than 5.4 million Georgians who do not have a valid passport, they would need to bring their birth certificate, or another federally issued identification document, alongside their photo ID to register to vote. Despite the Trump administration’s sensationalized and baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, a Republican-led audit of the 2024 election revealed nine non-U.S. citizens out of 8.2 million registered voters in Georgia had cast a ballot in a previous election, with most having voted in elections before 2012. Senator Warnock is a leading voting rights advocate. Earlier this year, he unveiled a comprehensive policy agenda to repair and strengthen American democracy in the wake of escalating attacks on the right to vote. Following the Supreme Court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act in April, Senator Warnock argued that voting rights legislation must be the number one priority for Democrats when they regain the majority in the U.S. Senate. He is also a proud proponent of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act , which would strengthen protections against discriminatory voting practices. ###