SAVE What?

The Issue

The SAVE Act, formally known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, is a proposed U.S. bill that would require individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship—such as a passport, birth certificate, or enhanced ID—to register to vote in federal elections. It passed the House on February 11, 2026, by a vote of 218–213 along party lines, with one Democrat joining all Republicans in support. The bill now moves to the Senate, where it faces significant hurdles due to the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster and opposition from some Republican senators concerned about federal overreach.

The bill mandates that states cannot register voters unless they present approved documents verifying citizenship. Standard driver’s licenses, tribal IDs, and military IDs alone would not suffice unless they explicitly indicate citizenship status, which most do not.

The 2026 version, also called the SAVE America Act, includes a photo ID requirement to vote in person and stricter rules for mail-in voting, such as submitting a copy of an eligible ID. It also requires states to purge non-citizens from voter rolls and share unredacted voter data with the Department of Homeland Security.

Critics argue the bill would disenfranchise eligible voters, many of whom may lack immediate access to required documents. Studies estimate 21.3 million citizens do not have easy access to proof of citizenship. Opponents also note that noncitizen voting is already illegal and extremely rare.

Getting the Documents

Vital records (birth, marriage, death) are usually stored by the county where the event took place. They may have a Vital Records department, or some records (such as recent births and deaths) may be stored by the Health Department.

If you need a copy of your birth certificate, you can probably go in person to the county offices. If you have moved away, you can probably do this online or by mail. (This cannot be done by making a phone call.) Your county may offer forms on its website, or it may direct you to a third-party (for-profit) provider. In any case, getting a copy of your certificate is not a free service. Fees vary, but in most cases will not be more than $35.00. If you use the third-party service, their fee will be $10.00 - $15.00. There may be additional charges for shipping.

You need to know the difference between an "informational copy" and a "certified copy". The informational copy comes stamped with the words "Not for identification". The certified copy is provided only to authorized people, such as the person in question and certain close family members. As an authorized person, you will have to provide a notarized declaration swearing that you are who you are. Notary fees vary, depending on where you go, but probably will be around $20.00.

Depending on how busy your county is these days, it can take several weeks (maybe a few months) to receive the certificate. By the way, if you want more than one, you'll have to pay an additional fee for each copy. (They come on nice paper with a raised logo.) If your county's records were destroyed in a hurricane, fire, or flood, you will not be able to get a copy.

Some people don't have a birth certificate because they were born at home or in a remote location, and the birth was not officially registered. It may be possible to get a "Delayed Birth Certificate," but the requirements can be insurmountable. My grandfather, born on the family farm, never had a birth certificate, although he tried many times to get one. The bureaucrats were not cooperative.

If your current name doesn't match your birth name, you'll need to document that. If you changed your name upon marriage, you'll need a copy of your marriage certificate. The procedure and fees are usually the same as for a birth certificate.

If you've been married more than once, you may need copies of all marriage certificates as well as copies of divorce decrees. Divorce documents may be difficult or impossible to obtain, as many counties keep them for only a limited time. If you were widowed before you remarried, you might want a copy of your first spouse's death certificate. The procedure and fee for that is similar to getting a birth certificate.

If your name was changed due to adoption, you'll need copies of the relevant documents. To get copies of your adoption records, usually you must file a petition in the superior court where the adoption took place. You will need to include proof of identity (a driver's license or passport) and you may need a copy of your original birth certificate (see above). The procedure for getting adoption records varies from state to state, as do the fees.

If you had your name legally changed for personal reasons, you'll need an official copy of that document. The procedure to get it is unclear, as this kind of document is not listed on most counties' websites.

Sometimes people are surprised find that the name they use differs from the birth certificate. I knew someone who thought he was Joseph, who got a copy of his birth certificate and learned that he was born Giuseppe. Sometimes it's just a spelling variation, like Janice vs. Janis or Susan vs. Suzanne. Still, the name in use is not an exact match to the birth certificate. I don't know what procedure there may be to reconcile discrepancies like these.

Some people seem to think that this is not a real problem. They happen to have certified copies of all their records, that they have carefully preserved and dragged with them whenever they moved. They imagine that everyone else does what they do, and are contemptuous of anyone whose life isn't exactly like theirs. However, the reality is that most of us simply don't possess certified copies of every document that has passed through our lives. And even those who do may run into discrepancies or unexpected information gaps.

The proposed requirement to make voter registration contingent upon having a current qualifying paper with a name exactly matching one's birth certificate places a procedural and financial burden on some people that is not placed on others. Married women are most likely to be affected and disenfranchised.

The League of Women Voters has stated, "Millions of eligible voters could be blocked from casting a ballot under the SAVE America Act’s restrictive documentary proof of citizenship requirements. This includes voters who are already properly registered and previously provided proof of citizenship but could still be turned away at the polls if they do not bring a passport or other qualifying document with them on Election Day."

The ACLU has stated, "The SAVE Act echoes failed and unconstitutional laws like Kansas’s proof of citizenship requirement, which purged over 30,000 eligible voters and was struck down in federal court. This legislation would especially harm naturalized citizens, voters with low incomes, voters of color, Native American voters, rural voters, and first-time voters—many of whom lack easy access to a passport or birth certificate. It would also threaten the voting rights of as many as 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name but whose birth certificate does not match. By demanding burdensome documentation and triggering erroneous voter roll purges, the SAVE Act also threatens the ability of even long-time registered voters to stay on the rolls and participate in elections."

Click HERE for an explainer from Rock the Vote.

 

Recent Random Thoughts

"Do You Hear the People Sing?" Les Miserables

If you're aiming your cell phone at the same time you're aiming your gun, you're making a snuff film.

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Just as we don't answer the phone for an unrecognized number - don't open your door to an uninvited knock.

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It doesn't really matter that the victim was a nice guy, a nurse, a kind person, helpful, friendly. If it turned out that he was a heartless curmudgeon who kicked dogs, cursed at small children, and stole his neighbors' Amazon boxes, he still wouldn't deserve to be beaten by thugs and shot to death on the street for the "crime" of recording their behavior on his phone. These lynch mobs have been turned loose in our streets by an authoritarian regime hell-bent on intimidating and demoralizing us with their "comply or die" mentality. They give these murderous goons military weapons and send them out to act as judge and executioner. And they've been given a budget that is bigger than that of most armies in the world. The amount of money being spent to perpetrate vandalism, theft, assault, kidnapping, and murder tells you how much it is worth to the oligarchs and their henchmen to keep us in line. Let's make sure we don't stay in line.

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Real law enforcement officers often detain armed suspects without killing them.

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Don't Go There

Photo by ev on Unsplash

Imagine you're planning a special vacation. There is a country you'd like to visit, but the news makes you wonder if that's a good choice.

In that country, there is a strange, militarized police force that seems to have no restrictions on its power. Its agents are anonymous and wear masks in public. Groups of them march along city streets in a show of force. They operate without warrants and without any apparent legal justification. They brutally attack people who question them or even look at them. They kidnap people from the street and take them to undisclosed locations. Some of the kidnapped people are held in overcrowded prisons where conditions are so bad they violate both international law for prisoners of war, and the country's own laws for prison operation. The prisoners are denied legal counsel or family visits. Some of them are sent to even worse prisons in other countries. Some of them simply "disappear". This police force has arrested tourists and business travelers, sometimes for minor visa issues, sometimes for what appear to be political motives.

You probably wouldn't take a vacation in the country where this is happening. Would you choose to live there?

When to Jump

Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

In the 1930's, there were a lot of people who didn't get out of Germany in time. Some of them simply didn't believe it would get nearly as bad as it did. Some of them were reluctant to leave their familiar lives - their homes, jobs, friends, the city where they were comfortable. Some felt they were too old to start over. Or they felt overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving their property and going to a strange place where they would have nothing and would need to find a way to make a living while learning a new language. Some were ready to go, but only if they could go to a place they chose. Maybe they wanted to go to the U.S. or England, but were stopped by immigration quotas, so they waited. Some had the chance to go to places they found unappealing, so they waited for something better. Some got out, but weren't able to go far enough. They fled to other European countries that were eventually taken over by the Nazis.

It is easy now to look back and think that the old folks should have left despite the difficulty. To say that the people who didn't want to go to South America or Africa should have gone anyway. That those who didn't want to leave their homes should have realized their lives were worth more than a house and furniture. That the people who thought it couldn't get worse and that they could just ride it out were deluding themselves. And, thinking all this, we have to ask, how much of this applies to us, now?

 

They're Looking at You

"Gestapo men", public domain, Wikipedia

ICE is now a huge military force, with a budget bigger than the militaries of most nations. It isn't part of our national defense. It operates only within this country's borders. It does not track down drug cartels or violent gangs. It isn't looking for bank robbers, rapists, or murderers. It will now be receiving from Medicaid and the IRS information that used to be considered private and confidential. Ask yourself what history tells us about countries that have huge internal militarized police forces with operatives whose identities are concealed, arresting people without warrants, moving them to undisclosed locations, imprisoning people without trials, and accumulating vast dossiers of information on the entire population.

 

Is This Pornography?

Historically, authoritarians have censored dissidents and others they dislike by accusing them of being pornographers who corrupt children.

Something many people don't know about Project 2025 is that its authors intend to make pornography illegal again, but not before they first change how pornography is defined.

Pornography is typically defined as sexually explicitly material (video, written, or audio) that is intended to cause sexual arousal. Educational material, such as medical books or sex-education texts, are usually exempt from being considered pornography, as is material which has "socially redeeming value".

Currently in the US, pornography is not usually illegal, unless it depicts children, or if it is provided to children, or if it depicts people who did not give consent, or if it is determined to be "obscene" - completely lacking artistic or social value and offensive to community standards.

The key thing to remember is that, legal or not, throughout history, pornography has been understood to be explicitly sexual, or to be "indecent" in its portrayal of the human body. (There are longer discussions to be had about how different societies define indecency, or what kinds of things were or weren't taboo in other places at other times.)

Project 2025, however, would expand the definition of pornography by including anything that depicts or mentions gender identity or transgender information. Christine Jorgensen's autobiography would be labeled porn, as would the song, "Take a Walk on the Wild Side", as would my posting an anecdote about how my nephew became my niece. Librarians who allowed people to check out these newly forbidden books would face prison time and would become registered sex offenders. See Page 5 of the manifesto.

This new concept of pornography is just part of the Heritage Foundation's drive to demonize LGBTQ (with a particular emphasis on the trans community). On page 4, they claim that certain words and phrases - sexual orientation and gender identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion, gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights - "deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights" and must be purged from "every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists."

They do not explain how the existence or use of a word can deprive people of First Amendment rights (which include the right to free speech).

Project 2025 is no longer just a proposal or a looming threat. Donald's advisors and other Republicans have now openly stated that it is their agenda.

The Project 2025 manifesto is difficult reading, most likely deliberately so. It is over 900 pages of academic-style writing, heavy-handed propaganda, strange fantasies, and outright lies. It often uses code words and convoluted language to disguise its true intent. Nevertheless, we should all become familiar with it. A good way to start is to read the comic book version.

Links:

• Comic Version of Project 2025
• Online version of the manifesto
• Republicans Admit Project 2025 is Their Agenda
• Christine Jorgensen's autobiography
• On Tyranny



 

It Only Happens to Other People

Maybe you don't care that donald speaks as if his sentences were produced by a random number generator. After all, not everyone can be a great public speaker, and there is no requirement that presidential candidates demonstrate English fluency.

And maybe you don't care that donald calls for the execution of people who disagree with him. After all, it's just a fantasy, and we have laws to prevent it from actually happening. At least, we do right now.

Maybe you don't care that donald has encouraged his supporters to shoot reporters. After all, it's unlikely they'll take him seriously, right? And if a few reporters are killed, so what? They probably deserved it for revealing how donald speaks, and for showing photos of his makeup. Anyway, we don't actually need to know about current events when we have social media and podcasts to inform us.

And maybe you don't care that donald has called for rounding up millions of immigrants and putting them in detention camps on the way to deporting them. If several thousand citizens get rounded up by mistake, it's a small price to pay for removing all those non-human vermin people from the country. So what if it requires sending the National Guard into neighborhoods to pound on doors and conduct warrantless searches of homes? You've got nothing to hide, right?

It probably hasn't occurred to you that the time will come when you, or people you like, are targeted for imprisonment, deportation, or execution. As time goes on, it could easily happen that your heritage (German, Italian, Armenian, Greek, Spanish, or whatever) could be labeled as a problem, especially if we have a political dispute or war with your ancestors' home country.

Or your church might fall out of favor. Or certain professions, not just reporters, but maybe doctors, architects, teachers, or farmers, could be denounced for not following the party line. Or maybe a spiteful neighbor could report you as a communist, even though all you did was laugh at a joke about donald. Not that you're likely to encounter many of those jokes, once all the comedians are in prison.

 

Hold Still While I "Help" You

Whose Nose Is It, Anyway?

Imagine a state government that decides to outlaw rhinoplasty and septoplasty. In other words - no nose jobs. They are under the influence of a small but vocal religious sect that opposes cosmetic surgery as being against God's will. "Your face is sacred," they insist.

Of course, it's not just about imposing one group's religious beliefs on the larger population. The government also sees changed noses as a way to evade facial recognition software and other surveillance/identification systems.

People who need nose surgery because they have breathing problems are dismissed as a tiny, meaningless minority. People whose noses are damaged in accidents or by violence are told that it's "God's will," and they should learn to love the new look.

Plastic surgeons, protesting against political interference in medical decisions, are vilified as money-grubbing demons who mutilate people for profit. People with crooked noses who travel to a state where rhinoplasty is still legal are reported to authorities and their medical records are seized. People with naturally small, straight noses are viewed with suspicion by religious zealots who harass them in public and send death threats to their homes. Protestors outside plastic surgeons' offices carry signs with graphic photos of bloody, swollen noses, and chant at everyone entering the office: "Don't break your nose! Don't break your nose!"

A couple of politicians get publicity for themselves by blocking state highway funding as a protest against government agencies that allow employees to use paid sick leave for nose surgery. The unrepaired roads contribute to an increase in traffic accidents - and more damaged noses. People who get out-of-state nose jobs are afraid to be seen with bandages on their faces, so they stay indoors or wear disguises.

People unhappy with their big, crooked noses are labeled as having "facial dysmorphic disorder" and are told they need counseling to accept themselves as they are. Parents who allow teenagers to get nose jobs are investigated by Child Protective Services. Some people go to underground practitioners who may or may not be safe. Some people become so desperate they try to fix their noses themselves, using steak knives and crochet hooks. Sometimes it works, but some people get permanent brain damage, and some bleed to death. Anyone with a nosebleed is suspected of having had an illegal nose job.

Celebrities who had nose jobs back when it was legal write books about their experiences; a few are invited to testify before Congress.