General Discussion

Eight states and Washington DC vote by mail. Utah is the only red state with mail voting. My state has been doing so exclusively for ten years. We have no voting machines, no polling places, no trained poll workers. The estimated start-up cost is $36 million. I believe this will result in some voters not being able to vote because the facilities required by the bill don't exist. The SAVE Act puts an undue burden on women who have been married, as they will have to procure documents that married men do not. As mentioned above, the 50% of American voters (around 77 million) without a passport would have to procure one before the midterm elections. As there is no phase-in period for the SAVE ACT, it will be a physical impossibility for the State Department to process applications and issue 77 million passports in the seven months before the election. It's $155 for a passport, including all fees, which would leave the poor, and elderly on a fixed income, at a disadvantage. It's also a de facto poll tax, prohibited by the 24th Amendment.The John R. Lewis Voting Act of 2024 prohibits vote dilution, which is suppression of voting by a distinct group, such as those described above. 18 U.S. Code § 597 -"Expenditures to influence voting" also states "Whoever SOLICITS, accepts, or receives any such EXPENDITURE in consideration of his vote or the WITHHOLDING of his vote" is in violation of federal law. Wouldn't this apply to the forced expenditures to procure documents needed to vote under the SAVE Act?