Even Politifact Thinks Democrats Have Gone Too Far Opposing the SAVE Act

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is the latest Democrat politician to make the outlandish claim that the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would disenfranchise married women. The claim is so false and outrageous, even left-leaning Politifact ruled it “mostly false.”

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act last year, largely along partisan lines. The bill requires proof of citizenship to register to vote. Democrats point out that it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote. However, this bill modifies the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to provide a necessary safeguard against fraudulent foreign votes.

The bill died in the Senate last year, but Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reintroduced it in January. With Republicans now in control of the Senate and President Donald Trump supporting the bill, it’s likely to pass.

The bill is relatively simple: It will require those who register to provide proof of birth in the U.S. or proof of naturalization, coupled with a photo ID, to show they are who they claim and hold U.S. citizenship.

But, as a matter of doctrine, Benson and fellow Michigan Democrats are toeing the party line against something most Americans support.

On Feb. 25, she called a press conference with state Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Detroit); chair of the Senate Elections & Ethics Committee; state Rep. Steve Wooden (D-Grand Rapids), vice chair of the House Election Integrity Committee; Benson’s deputy secretary of state; and leftist activists from organizations like the ACLU, who oppose nearly every form of election integrity.

Benson claimed the SAVE Act would disenfranchise tens of thousands of Michiganders because women’s maiden names differ from their married names. In response to a journalist who asked if the $150–$200 if costs to get a passport would amount to a poll tax, Benson said it would.

But married women don’t need a passport to get a driver’s license, and the SAVE Act doesn’t require them to get a passport to register to vote. Those who took their husbands’ name must already provide certified proof of that name change at the DMV—an extra step they were aware of when they gave up their maidan name. The SAVE Act doesn’t add any additional steps for voter registration. Citizens who are married women will be able to register to vote by showing their birth certificate or naturalization card, their marriage license, and a photo ID with their current legal name.

The Left simply opposes any efforts to secure election integrity because it messes up their strategy of flooding the polls with low-information warm bodies. Not only do bills like the SAVE Act prevent non-citizens from voting, but they also force would-be voters to act responsibly—to plan ahead. This runs counter to the Left’s playbook which relies on emotional impulsivity based on lies like the one Benson and her Michigan comrades are spreading about the SAVE Act.

But assuming the SAVE Act did disenfranchise married women, that would only help Democrats. Married women broke for Trump by 5 points last year, compared with single women who broke for Kamala Harris by 23 points. Additionally, disenfranchising married women who gave up their maidan names would only further help the Left. Among conservative women, 90 percent take their husbands’ name, compared with only two-thirds of liberal women.

Are Democrats sounding the alarm over the Save Act’s alleged mass disenfranchisement of trad wives out of their sense of fairness? Hardly.

Democrats are grasping at any means to peel supporters away from the coalition Trump built last year. They hope sowing what they term “misinformation” about Republicans allegedly taking the vote away from their own most loyal supporters will turn some of those supporters against the SAVE Act. When even Politifact calls them out, it shows their desperation is getting pathetic.

(READ MORE: Senate Dems on Shaky Ground When It Comes to Non-Citizen Voting)