After the House of Representatives passed Donald Trump’s SAVE America voting act in February, he is pushing for it to get passed by congress and made into a law. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or SAVE Act would further restrict voting rights to only eligible U.S. citizens.

Currently, only registered U.S. citizens are able to vote, and Donald Trump is pushing to make registration a stricter process, which may affect many Americans’ ability to vote.

One issue that may present itself from this act would affect many married women, who may not have proof of citizenship containing their current name.

But, this act will affect more than just women’s abilities to vote.

According to Bipartisan Policy, 9% of eligible voters do not possess, or have easy access to documentary proof of legal citizenship, 52% of registered voters do not have an unexpired passport with their current legal name and 11% of registered voters do not have access to their birth certificate. 

“As you’re creating more restrictions,” MCHS Social Science teacher Kathryn Larson says, “new documentation that people have to provide in order to vote, inevitably, it’s going to lead to more and more people running the risk of being disenfranchised, and not having the ability to vote if they don’t have the required documentation.”

Because of this, voting eligibility will become harder for many Americans, but acts similar to this have been passed before. MCHS Social Science teacher, Kathryn Larson, ties this act to other comparable historical events.

“Theres arguments that the constitutionality of this might be an interesting question,” Larson says. “In terms of like, is this a modern day poll tax? … or is this another form of an unfair check that people have to encounter at the polls?”

With this act being pushed, it brings up possibilities for more questions from the people it may affect.