What to Know
President Donald Trump has made it clear that passing the SAVE Act (which stands for Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) is one of his top priorities, but many Americans are concerned that it will only create new barriers for voters to overcome that might prevent them from participating in elections in the future. Now, even White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is willing to admit that the SAVE Act will make it more difficult for married women to vote — but she also finds it insulting that people believe women aren’t capable of putting in the effort to fulfill the new requirements.
If passed, the SAVE Act will require married women to update their documents if they want to vote.
While the SAVE Act comes with several changes that could easily turn into a bureaucratic nightmare ahead of the next election, one of the biggest points of contention with the terms of the act so far has had to do with married women. Many choose to change their last names when they get married, which usually means that their driver’s license (and other newer documents) will show their married last names, which are going to be different from the last names on their birth certificates.
Under the SAVE Act, those last names being different would disqualify someone from voting, which means married women who have changed their names would have to go out of their way to procure new documents and then re-register to vote.
Karoline claimed married women would have no trouble voting… and then immediately backtracked.
Democrats say the SAVE America Act could block married women from voting. Karoline Leavitt calls that a myth, saying the bill only stops ILLEGAL ALIENS from voting and standard paperwork updates already exist.pic.twitter.com/jqWeK2I4tK
— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) March 10, 2026
During a press briefing on Tuesday, one journalist asked Karoline about the way the SAVE Act could affect married women, and at first, her answer was that it wouldn’t.
“Let me be very clear: The SAVE America Act does not prohibit anyone from voting, with the exception of illegal aliens,” she said. “As far as married women who have changed their name, if they’ve already registered to vote, they’re entirely unaffected by the SAVE Act.”
In the same breath, she also said that “the small fraction of individuals who have changed their name or their address, they can still register to vote, of course. They just have to go through their state processes to update that documentation.”
So which is it, Karoline?
She also claimed that it all boils down to “common sense.”
She went on to call the new requirements in the bill “popular and rooted in common sense,” and in her view, it really seems like NBD for someone to take a day or two off work to wait in lines and go through the process (and sometimes, financial strain) of getting their legal documents changed to reflect their married name.
“This is something that the American people, married women, and minorities — people all across this country who the Democrats are insultingly saying cannot do this — they’re already doing it every day. Going to the Social Security office, going to the DMV. I think it’s frankly insulting,” she said.
The SAVE Act isn’t law yet, though. While it did pass in the House, it would also have to pass in the Senate, and Trump is still reportedly tinkering with the version of the bill that he wants to push through.
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