Rep. Latimer Votes Against Bill to Suppress Voting

WASHINGTON, DC – Today U.S. Representative George Latimer (NY-16) voted against the so-called SAVE Act (H.R. 22). This bill would require a passport or birth certificate to register to vote, every time a person registers to vote. The SAVE Act could strip nearly 70 million women, roughly 25% of the voting population, of their ability to register to vote simply because they changed their last name. You can watch his full speech here.

Rep. Latimer said: “The so-called SAVE Act should be called the Stop All Voter Engagement Act, because that is what it will do. 

The American people in my district and my state have spoken clearly. This bill is voter suppression, pure and simple. It’s brought to us under the guise of stopping illegal voting. When we analyzed voting in Westchester County, a million people and I was the County Executive of, we found no appreciable illegal voting. But this is an opportunity for this majority to try to impose their will on states they don’t already control.

They want to end mail voter registration in my home state, to satisfy other state’s regressive laws. They want to require people who have voted legally for years to prove their citizenship, if they not only change their name but if they move. A simple move requires them to drive to a county Board of Elections and prove that they are an American citizen when they have proven that over the course of 20 years or more of voting. 

This bill subjects local officials to hefty criminal fines if they register someone outside of these rules. This is an expensive, unfunded mandate in Westchester and New York City, and all of the other states that are involved.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time back.”