One household, one vote.
If some radical, right wing Christian Nationalists had it their way, that would be the law of the land.
Right here in 2026, thanks to their roadmap, Project 2025.
Not sure what that would mean for single person households, iffen that single person was a woman, but I can only guess: one woman, no vote.
But, thankfully, Project 2025 has stumbled on this issue…for now.
Today, we celebrate.
We celebrate women’s right to vote and the 126th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which states:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
But, do not think for one minute, that means we are safe.
What Congress giveth, Congress may taketh away.
If you don’t think so, think again.
While changing the Constitution requires full participation of all 50 states, do not doubt for a minute that there are not other ways in which women’s rights – voting and otherwise – can be removed or, if not removed, hindered, and, by default, denied.
We’ve come a long way, baby…or have we?
Think about it: this year, our nation celebrates its 250th birthday. Women have only had the right to vote for HALF of our nation’s existence.
In February of this year – OF THIS YEAR — the United States House of Representatives, after two years of wonking around with it, passed the SAVE America Act.
According to the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization whose mission is to empower voters, the SAVE America Act requires all eligible voters to produce documented proof of citizenship.
Among other restrictions to voting rights, this bill would require that all persons wishing to vote in the United States would need to prove citizenship by presenting a birth certificate matching their legal name.
This bill has been PASSED by the United States House of Representatives.
It. Has. Been. Passed.
According to CAP (Center for American Progress), that requirement alone would disenfranchise as many as 69 million women – who have taken their spouse’s last name – from voting.
Sixty-nine million women.
Kept from voting.
Before this bill becomes the law of the land, the U.S. Senate needs to pass the bill.
Right now, the U.S. Senate is in recess and will not return to D.C. until mid-September. According to many experts, the Republicans in favor of this effort do not have the votes to pass this Act.
Thank God.
But, just because it is foiled, hopefully, for the Fall 2026 voting cycle, doesn’t mean that, depending on whether there is a Blue Wave or a Red Hat Society Convention this fall at the polls, it could come back to life at some point in the future.
It is a part of the Project 2025 agenda, and the Orange Man in charge in the White House still has two years left to go in his term.
He will try and push through every piece of that agenda that he possibly can before he exits office…if he exits office.
Right? RIGHT?
“But why would I oppose this bill?” you might ask. “I am not in favor of noncitizens voting illegally in our elections. And if all I have to do is produce my birth certificate and my passport, I’m good. I’ve got this. No problem.”
First, let me state that I am also opposed to noncitizens voting illegally in our federal elections.* Absolutely. (*The District of Columbia and several states allow noncitizens to vote, legally, in local elections)
But, thanks to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Additionally, all 50 states have voting laws that, for the first 250 years of this nation’s history, have served us well.
According to the League of Women Voters website: “In 2016, the Brennan Center for Justice found that across 42 jurisdictions with high immigrant populations, there were only 30 cases of suspected noncitizens voting out of 23.5 million votes cast (.0001%).”
ONE TEN THOUSANDTH percent.
I know we don’t want to see even one noncitizen cast a vote illegally.
But for one ten thousandth percent, I’m willing to take my chances using the existing laws so that 69 million women do not face barriers when they want to vote.
And women and people of color and the people who are lowest on the socioeconomic scale will face barriers.
The cost of obtaining a birth certificate ranges from $25 to $50, depending on where you live. Some people do not have the resources to spend that much on such documentation.
And what if you do not live where you were born? You need to have the resources to access the clerk’s office in that location to arrange payment for that birth certificate. But what if you do not have a credit card to pay for it online? And what if you are divorced and your last name has changed multiple times in your life?
The number of barriers, financial or otherwise, to women and people without economic means, just for the “privilege” of voting, which is supposed to be an unobstructed right in this nation, is just too much to bear. That is not what the Founding Fathers intended when they established our Democracy.
Women, and all marginalized communities, should not be required to take additional steps beyond what men need to take in order to vote, nor should they face additional barriers, economic or otherwise, to prove their citizenship.
Any rights that you have – that any woman in the United States has – came about as a result of the blood, sweat and tears of our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers and others before them.
Their hard work has allowed the last few generations to enjoy the fruits of their labor: a life filled with unprecedented legal rights for items you count on every day as basic as birth control.
So don’t take your eyes off of this issue. This fall, vote for candidates who will not work hard to help you lose the right to vote.
If you do not make time to stand up and speak up for those rights now, who will ensure that your daughters and granddaughters have the very same rights you have enjoyed throughout your life?
If not you, then who?
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