DOES BRAD FINSTAD WANT TO KEEP MARRIED WOMEN FROM VOTING?

Readers may remember our article on Congressman Brad Finstad.  We gave him the nickname “Mr. No,” because that’s mostly the way he votes in Washington: he’s tried to block funding for everything from FEMA to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Rural Housing Service’s Rental Assistance Program.  CALL HIM MR. NO  Well, he is currently banding together with fellow Republican Reps. Tom Emmer, Pete Stauber and Michelle Fischbach to make it more difficult and expensive for you to vote—especially if you are a married woman who took your spouse’s name.

 The Safeguard America Voter Eligibility(SAVE) Act is designed to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections—which might sound good, but it is already a federal crime for a noncitizen to vote.   And they almost never do.  A 2024 University of St. Thomas School of Law legal study stated, “There is no evidence of systematic or widespread voter fraud by noncitizens, whether intentional or accidental.”

So why is Finstad, who never wants the government to do anything, so interested in having government solve a non-problem?  Maybe this is a political stunt.  But it will have bad consequences.

The Save Act requires individuals to provide in person documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.  That means, for most of us, a passport or birth certificate.  But the act says that your birth certificate must match your voter registration, and marriage licenses or other proof of name changes cannot be used.  So, if your last name doesn’t match your birth certificate, and you haven’t applied for a passport, you could be denied the right to vote.

The injustice is pretty clear.  As Hilary Laihinen puts it in her Tuesday, February 18^th, letter to the Star Tribune, “You already have the right to vote under the Constitution.” Why should you pay $100-$200 for a passport to secure that right? 

Seems like this would be a good time to call Brad Finstad and tell him to live up to his nickname and vote NO on the SAVE Act.