Under current US law, it is illegal for non-citizens to register and vote in federal or state elections. Additionally, we have robust processes already in place to ensure that only eligible voters are casting ballots. However, Congress is about to vote on a bill that requires all eligible voters to provide citizenship documentation to register to vote. 

This bill is called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, and despite its innocuous name, it would do far more harm than good.

This law would be both unjust and unnecessary.

It is unjust, because it would deprive millions of legal US citizens of the right to vote. Under this law, every single American citizen would have to show very specific documents, like a passport or an original birth certificate, in person when registering to vote and anytime they update their voter registration. 

Do you have a current passport on hand?

If not, do you have the $100+ it takes to get one?

Do you have an original birth certificate on hand (not a copy of one, but an original copy)?

Do you have the money and time to get to the courthouse to get one?

You can see how the requirements of the SAVE Act would unnecessarily burden many communities of eligible voters and would deprive many lawful citizens of their right to vote, possibly even yourself. More than 21 million American citizens don’t have these documents readily available, according to survey data.

This law would impact married women in particular. Americans who have changed their name — including married women — would also be required to secure updated documentation to register to vote.

Surveys show that eight in 10 married women have changed their surname, meaning they do not possess a birth certificate that matches their current legal name and, therefore, could not present it as valid proof of citizenship. There are an estimated 69 million American women who lack the paperwork that reflects their current name.

Just think how this law would impact Lyon County, and in particular, think of the thousands of married women in this county who do not have a passport or do not have an original birth certificate showing their married name (not their birth name, their married name).

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to lose my right to vote just because I got married and changed my name. Seems unjust to me.

Secondly, this law is completely unnecessary. A recent study from Minnesota’s University of St. Thomas (published in 2024 and aptly titled “Needles in Haystacks”) concluded that only 3 of 13 million votes cast over a 10-year period in Minnesota were found to be cast by non-citizens. Yes, you read that correctly: three whole votes in 10 years. You have a better chance of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning than finding an illegally-cast vote in Minnesota. Clearly, voter fraud is a big nothingburger and people who tell you otherwise are just trying to fan the flames of fear. Don’t believe it.

In short, the SAVE Act would disenfranchise huge numbers of Americans, and Congress should reject it. Sadly, our own U.S. Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach not only supports this bill, but is a co-sponsor of it.

Why does she want to eliminate the right to vote of thousands of her constituents?

Why would she do this to us?

Contact her office today and urge her to withdraw her support. Our forefathers and foremothers did not fight and die for the right to vote just for Representative Fischbach and her ilk to take it away from us.

— Anita Gaul is chair of the Lyon County DFL