One Practical Thing: Get your identification documents sorted before the next election

One Practical Thing: Get your identification documents sorted before the next election
Photo by Levi Ventura / Unsplash


Official documents take time. There will be consequential elections across the country both this year and next year.

If you have ever changed your name or gone by a different name, you need to get your documentation situated sooner rather than later.

The SAVE Act, the current law that is being promoted by Republicans in the name of voting integrity will disenfranchise potentially millions of voters over identification documents. We don't know how far this law will go and to what extent it, or laws like it, will materialize over the coming months.

We do know that identification documents and official changes can get caught up in bureaucratic systems and take a long time to finalize.

The proposed SAVE Act law being pushed for is a federal voting law that would remove state discretion from the process.

It requires either a passport or other proof of citizenship with your current legal name. Without those documents, you would have to produce a birth certificate with a state seal and a current form of identification—both with the exact same name on them.

Among other things, this will heavily disenfranchise women as voters. One of the most common name change reasons is marriage and divorce. Most people do not immediately change their passport or drivers license upon marriage or divorce given those items are valid for multiple years.

Get your documentation to match. Get your registration sorted. Be ready for the next election.