Wild new rule could stop millions of married US women from voting in elections

A truly bonkers scenario is unfolding in the US right now, with more than 69 million people facing the possibility of losing a basic right.

“Tradwives” of the United States, celebrate: Marriage with all the traditional trappings will soon make it much harder for women to vote.

It could be inevitable unintended damage from the White House policy of “move fast and break things”.

It could also be a convenient fallout for ultra-traditionalist factions of President Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.

Especially among those promoting an idealistic interpretation of the 1950s, when employment was readily available, the cost of living was low – and the male breadwinner earned enough to support a subservient wife in a family home.

Proposed new regulations stipulate every United States citizen must present, in person, federal government documentation proving citizenship when registering to vote.

Obtaining that documentation depends on having a birth certificate with a name matching the voter’s.

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However, 69 million married women in the United States have changed their surname.

That means their names don’t match their birth certificates.

The bill’s sponsor, Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy, insists the law will stop illegal voting.

Not that this is a serious problem.

Incidents of attempted voter fraud are remarkably low.

An audit in the state of Georgia last year found only 20 non-citizens among its 8.4 million registered voters. All 20 had been intercepted and charged.

But US think-tank the Centre for American Progress says the new bill will instead bar millions of valid US citizens from attending the polls.

It won’t be a problem if they have a passport. But some 146 million US citizens have never passed beyond their nation’s borders.

And corroborating documentation should exist. It’s just a convoluted, costly and time-consuming process to obtain it every time you want to vote.

Especially if you’ve been married more than once.

But no exemptions are allowed.

The SAVE Act stipulates that any election worker who registers a voter without the proper documentation will be jailed for up to five years. Regardless of whether or not that voter was truly a US citizen.

No exemptions are allowed. Picture: Jim Watson/Pool/AFP

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A challenged Constitution

Under the US Constitution, all citizens – barring children and some convicted criminals – have the inalienable right to vote. Any attempt to obstruct their vote is an offence.

And the 19th Amendment, passed a century ago largely thanks to Republican Party efforts, guarantees this privilege to women.

However, what constitutes “inalienable” has become a matter of debate.

Voters must already provide proof of identification. Different states apply different measures, including social security numbers and other forms of photo ID.

The idea that there were millions of undocumented immigrants voting was raised in the 2016 election campaign that saw Donald Trump win his first presidency. He insisted the only reason he lost the popular vote (and not the decisive Electoral College vote) was that 3 million illegal votes had been cast in favour of Hillary Clinton.

An audit of that election later found only 30 out of 136,787,187 votes were suspected of being cast by non-citizens.

But the White House now insists that government-issued photo ID is not enough. So, it wants all voters to present their passports, military IDs and proof of naturalisation. And these need, or must be presented with, verified birth certificates.

It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Married voters who have changed their name must attend their local records office to purchase a copy. This, in itself, requires proof of identity. And time. And money. And available government staff.

Then, that birth certificate must be taken to the election office responsible for your electorate. But it can only be presented alongside copies of current federal ID and marriage licences.

Procuring certified copies of these can also be a protracted, costly process.

Especially if you’re living in remote areas or are under time pressures.

Women react as Kamala Harris speaks for the first time after Donald Trump’s victory. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

And each change of name for each marriage must be thoroughly documented.

“More than 21 million Americans are unable to access the additional documents that would be required to register to vote under the SAVE Act,” the Campaign Legal Centre says in a statement.

“People of colour, married people who have changed their names, as well as young and elderly people are more likely to have difficulty in accessing these documents.”

But the Brennan Centre legal advocacy group argues the implications of the SAVE Act extend far beyond married women and the elderly.

It says the requirement to present citizenship documentation in person will “functionally eliminate mail registration”.

And the tendency for postal votes to tip a tight election in favour of the Democrats has long been a bugbear for the Republican Party.

Representative Roy insists the SAVE Act presents no new hurdles to any valid voter.

“The legislation provides myriad ways for people to prove citizenship and explicitly directs states to establish a process for individuals to register to vote if there are discrepancies in their proof of citizenship documents due to something like a name change,” he told US media.

A bridge too far?

Alongside the SAVE Act is another piece of legislation.

US travellers will soon have to present identification compliant with the REAL ID identification standard before they can board domestic airline flights.

Passport holders will get a pass. As will those with military IDs.

But getting any other form of REAL ID will demand proof of name change.

And that, again, directly affects 69 million married US women.

As of May 7, failure to prove a maiden name will see “tradwife” travellers barred at the gate.

The REAL ID Act was passed shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. It was intended to prevent foreign hijackers from getting aboard domestic flights such as those that slammed into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.

The new laws will now impose the standard on all US travellers.

The REAL ID Act was passed after September 11 to prevent foreign hijackers getting aboard domestic flights.

Like the SAVE Act, the only way to get a REAL ID is to attend a registration office in person (in this case, the Department of Motor Vehicles) with validated birth certificates, marriage certificates and supplementary forms of federal proof of identity.

Roy first introduced the SAVE Act in July 2024.

But this attempt failed when it encountered the then-Democrat-controlled Senate.

Similar legislation introduced by Kansas and Arizona state governments has been overturned by the US Supreme Court for violating the Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act.

Now, his fellow Republicans are in charge of both the Senate and Congress on Capitol Hill. So the SAVE Act is being reintroduced.

“We already have strict laws in place to protect the security of our elections,” the Campaign Legal Centre states.

“The right to vote is a basic American freedom, and our elected officials should be working to protect that right, not restrict it.”

The rise of the US tradwife

Is the SAVE Act and broader application of the REAL ID Act really about illegal immigrants casting a vote to influence US politics?

Or the role of US women?

Fundamentalist Christian pastor Dale Partridge argued ahead of the Presidential election last year that “in a Christian marriage, a wife should vote according to her husband’s direction”.

President Trump, for his part, spoke out in a campaign speech about the need to protect US women from themselves: “I want to protect the women of our country … I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not”.

It also comes with a growing push among US Christian fundamentalists to challenge the feminist movement through nostalgia.

Critics have compared the US to the Handmaid’s Tale.

“Tradwives market a romanticised lifestyle,” says Auckland University of Technology researcher Christina Vogels.

“The tradwife lifestyle also promotes a pioneering domesticity. Tradwife influencers often post about baking their own bread, make their own preserves and mending their family’s clothes.”

Of course, no mention is made of the epidemic of Valium dependency among bored homemakers of that era.

It clashes fiercely with President Trump’s campaign against fentanyl addiction.

But the sitcom-based ideal of the American housewife has taken root in US media, social media and broader culture. Especially among the far-right elements gaining popularity.

“The tradwife identity offers women … security: a stable, strictly defined and seemingly uncomplicated identity that is predicated solely on serving one’s husband and children,” Vogels adds.

“On the surface, this is what many feel a traditional return to womanhood offers. But the costs of giving up the gains of feminism are not clear …

“When you strip away the romanticism of domesticity, the tradwife lifestyle only furthers the difficulties women face today by breeding a deep misogyny that is based on an intense subjugation of women.”

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social

Originally published as Wild new rule could stop millions of married US women from voting in elections