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A Message from the Co-Presidents: Kathryn Brown & Amy Bisek

We’re still basking in the happy glow brought on by the NYM Scholarship Boutique. Truth be told, the glow started in late October with the Bridge Scramble fundraiser and grew exponentially when we arrived at the November meeting and beheld the beautifully organized display of creatively crafted and generously donated treasures on offer. Both events were not just FUNDraisers, but wonderful FUNraisers, as well: opportunities to enjoy working and playing (aren’t Bridge, Crafting, Shopping and Baking actually sports?) together for our shared cause of advancing equity for women and girls through education, empowerment, and advocacy.

We’re relieved to be past the November election, but are also feeling wary about “What’s next?”   Unfortunately, lying in wait in the US  Senate is a vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (passed by the House in April 2025.) We think the SAVE Act is the most serious threat to women’s right to vote to arise in the years since the 1965 Voting Rights Act finally made the 19^th Amendment applicable to minority as well as white women.  In the words of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, “Voting is the fundamental right from which all other rights flow.” We couldn’t agree more.

The SAVE Act’s supporters claim it provides needed measures to prevent non-citizens from voting, while opponents argue its terms disproportionately burden eligible women voters.

Whether by clueless indifference or design, the de facto effect on women if the SAVE Act is signed into law will be to disenfranchise women all over the country because it would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship. More than 140 million Americans do not possess a passport (that’s 42% of all Americans, among whom we can safely presume at least 50% are female); as many as 69 million American women who have taken their spouse’s name do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name.

The SAVE Act presents itself as a simple tool to implement a noble cause: limiting “voter fraud.” Whether voter fraud actually exists to any great extent is a matter of hot debate.  For two opposing views on this, compare the Brennan Center for Justice’s The Myth of Voter Fraud https://www.brennancenter.org and the Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Map https://electionfraud.heritage.org.

But we don’t need to decide whether or not the extent of voter fraud is exaggerated to know the SAVE Act is bad law. There are already many laws in place which, if enforced, ensure the integrity of the vote. From our perspective, the SAVE Act’s end goal of further curbing what voter fraud does exist does not justify its methodology.

Please consider letting your representatives know that you want them to strongly oppose the SAVE Act on the grounds of its impact on women voters.  Tell them to find a way to address voter fraud other than by dealing a blow to women’s right to vote.

We remain grateful for your support and camaraderie and wish you the happiest of Holidays!

Amy & Kathryn
Co-Presidents, AAUW Redlands Branch