League Joins International Women's Day March

3/10/25

We hit the streets of Chicago on Saturday, March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day and show our collective power. Thanks everyone who joined to march, rally, and raise our voices for justice, equity, and liberation!

LWVIL VP Kathy Cortez spoke at the rally, warning against the SAVE Act, which was recently introduced in Congress and would require citizenship documentation to register to vote — despite the fact that voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering.

The bill’s requirement that voters present a document in-person to prove American citizenship to register to vote in federal elections creates one more barrier to the voting process, as many eligible voters do not have easy access to the necessary documents. In addition to the numerous other communities that would be directly and detrimentally impacted by this law, the SAVE Act is a women’s issue.

Americans who have changed their name — like married women and members of the trans community — would also be required to secure updated documentation to register to vote. Surveys show that eight in ten married women have changed their surname, meaning they do not possess a birth certificate that matches their current legal name and, therefore, could not present it as valid proof of citizenship. There are an estimated 69 million American women who lack the paperwork that reflects their current name.

Legislation like the SAVE Act is another in a long list of tactics which seek to make it more difficult to vote. Americans do not need MORE obstacles to vote. Contact Congress today!