DEAR EDITOR:

What’s in a word? We all know that words can be used to help us or hurt us. Words can even save us sometimes. The word save is an especially important word. It is loaded. The acronym SAVE which stands for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility is especially loaded.

President Trump has demanded Congress pass the SAVE Act that would require voters to present hard copy proof of citizenship in order to register and/or vote and also to mandate that all absentee ballots be received by voting day. These SAVE bills are being enacted presumably to prevent voters from voting illegally and to “save” our elections from widespread fraud. However, various researchers have shown that voter fraud is almost nonexistent. Study after study shows there is no voter fraud to speak of, really.

The SAVE Act, purportedly designed to save our elections from a nonexistent problem, will instead restrict who gets to participate, weakening and corroding our system of voting rather than expanding it to eligible voters. The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that the voices of millions of eligible voters will be silenced if the SAVE Act passes, with voters taken from the following groups:

● Veterans who would be required to reregister to vote whenever their family moves.

● Families impacted by natural disasters who have lost important documentation which they would struggle mightily to replace.

● Married women and others who have changed their names would be required to secure updated information.

● People of color who, compared to white U.S. citizens, are three times more likely to lack the documentation required by the SAVE Act.

The SAVE Act has passed in the House. The League of Women Voters of the United States has denounced its passage. Now the SAVE Act is stalled in the Senate.

We need to contact our Senators and urge them to vote against the SAVE Act in order to save the jewel of our democracy, the votes of our citizens.

ANNETTE HUTCHISON

Villa Maria, Pa.