Several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), have rebuked Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) for saying that the SAVE Act would hurt women voters.
Speaking at a town hall, Slotkin said that the SAVE Act was designed to “rig our democracy so that it would be hard for any Democrat in any state to win any election.”
She also said it would “disenfranchise all married women,” adding that they would have to show their birth certificates at the polls if they have a married name.
Sen. Rand Paul and other lawmakers clapped back in posts on X, dismissing her claims as “false.”
“This talking point from the Left is not only false, but it also paints women as incapable, which we all know is not the case. Showing up to the polls to vote with an ID that proves you’re an American citizen – whether you’re married or not – is common sense. We need to pass the SAVE America Act,” said Rand Paul.
“By that same logic, no married woman in America could fill out an I-9 form—which every American must do when starting a new job. This is absurd. And it highlights why we need to pass the SAVE America Act,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
Slotkin’s claim that voter ID would disenfranchise voters falls short when examining the facts. In Georgia, for instance, where similar laws were put into effect, voter turnout either went up or stayed relatively the same. During the 2022 midterms, following several reforms, early voting actually tripled from 2018 and doubled from 2020, with black voters casting over 100,000 more early ballots than they did in 2018.
Just this year, Georgia voters saw a record turnout for a primary election, with reports that even Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has grown “concerned about the Democratic turnout advantage,” per WABE.
“About 1 million people turned out for early voting as polls closed Friday, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office. The previous record for early voting in a Georgia primary was about 857,000 in 2022,” noted the outlet.
“And Democrats have flipped the script on Republicans this year compared to the early voting period in the 2022 primary,” it added.
