Content warning: This blog discusses domestic violence, including physical violence, family separation, and homicide.
Over the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen lots of headlines about the SAVE America Act, the latest anti-voter bill now being debated on the floor of the Senate. Since the original version — the SAVE Act — came to the floor of the US House in February 2025, the League has been educating voters on the heavy burden the bill’s requirements would put on Americans, including married women, rural communities, and military families.
But the SAVE Act targets another community of eligible voters who already face institutional barriers when navigating our legal and advocacy systems: survivors of domestic violence.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Domestic Violence in the United States
The Department of Justice defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior perpetuated by one partner in an intimate relationship to maintain power and control over the other. While domestic violence is severely underreported, the National Hotline of Domestic Violence estimates that over one in three women and one in four men in the United States have experienced domestic violence.
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One of the most pervasive myths about domestic violence is that it primarily includes acts of physical abuse. However, domestic violence can take many forms, including emotional abuse, sexual coercion, stalking, and/or financial control. Domestic violence may not look the same in every relationship, but there is a common, underlying dynamic: a partner trying to establish or maintain power and dominance.
Why It’s Not as Simple as “Just Leaving” An Abusive Relationship
When hearing about someone in an abusive relationship, many people ask, “Well, if it’s so bad, why don’t they just leave?”
The truth is that survivors of domestic or sexual violence face endless barriers when it comes to seeking safety, from isolation to lack of financial control or housing to outright fear. The first 18 months after leaving an abusive relationship is statistically the most dangerous time for survivors, with 75% of homicides occurring upon separation and a 75% chance of increased violence for the next two years. If those survivors have children, they face the threat of the abuser gaining custody of their children – which happens in half of all cases.
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Furthermore, the idea that many survivors haven’t already tried to leave is a fallacy. Studies suggest that “75% of homicide victims and 85% of women who experienced severe but non-fatal domestic violence had left or tried to leave their abuser within the past year.”
Successfully leaving an abusive partner often requires extensive financial and legal resources, as well as the ability to maintain a safe distance from someone who likely knows where you live and work and who may have control of your monetary resources and/or tracking devices on your vehicle, phone, or social media accounts. This is all outside of dealing with the intense psychological and emotional impacts of abuse, which cannot be understated.
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Seeking support isn’t easy, either. Domestic violence shelters don’t have infinite space and may turn people away when they’re full. Immigration status may be a deterrent for those who fear deportation or separation from their child without their partner’s support.
Finally, the criminal justice system is far from reliable when a survivor tries to prosecute their abuser. A report from Carolyn Powers at Hofstra University’s School of Law found that survivors of domestic violence are hesitant to cooperate with the criminal justice system due to fear of retaliation from their abuser, confusion over the legal system, or “the belief that the justice system was ineffective when it came to protecting them.”
Indeed, the system has a low prosecution rate for abusers, and even when abusers are prosecuted, it may only lead to a “slap on the wrist” or fail to provide adequate protection. Many survivors have suffered violence, sometimes fatal, from a former partner against whom they technically had legal protection.
Barriers to Voting for People Experiencing Domestic Violence
It should be no surprise that people in abusive relationships face obstacles to voting.
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A common way abusers exert power and control in relationships is through isolation — cutting off their partner’s access to support systems, family, or even resources like social media, the internet, or the mail. This can prevent victims from receiving necessary voter information, such as registration deadlines, the location of their polling place, or even basic facts about the candidates. If they can vote, either by absentee ballot or by mail, voting can feel more like a risk than a civic duty or a way to make their voice heard. Their partner may exert power through intimidation or coercion, closely monitoring or interfering in how they fill out their ballot.
Abusers can also exert control and silence their partners by withholding documents necessary to register to vote or cast a ballot. While identification varies by state, common forms of identification needed to register to vote include a Social Security Number or a driver’s license. Voter ID also varies by state, but 36 states currently require voters to show some form of identification — whether it’s a photo ID or voter registration card — at the polls. Without these documents, victims of domestic violence can't even register to vote, let alone make their voices heard at the polls.
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When registering to vote, individuals must provide their address. This information is public in some states and can be dangerous if it falls into the hands of an abuser or stalker. Witlee Ethan, a domestic violence survivor from North Carolina, wrote about how public voter registration can make a survivor’s location public information, threatening their safety.
Despite various societal and legal barriers, survivors who successfully leave an abusive relationship do have access to a few institutional protections to support their safety. Through the Address Confidentiality Program, victims of stalking, sexual abuse, or domestic violence can protect private information like their address. However, not every state has a confidentiality program, and services and eligibility vary by state. Survivors can also apply for a new Social Security Number or seek a court-ordered name change. But when it comes to voting, the SAVE Act adds yet another barrier for domestic violence survivors, making it even harder for them to make their voices heard.
The SAVE Act Creates More Barriers for Survivors
The SAVE America Act, formerly known as the SAVE Act, would require every American to present “documentary proof of citizenship” — things like your birth certificate or a passport — to register to vote or to vote in a federal election. It would also implement photo ID requirements when showing up to vote and require every state to run its voter database through the Department of Homeland Security.
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Supporters of the SAVE Act claim that the legislation would combat voter fraud and prevent noncitizen voting in federal elections. Yet voter fraud is incredibly rare in the United States, and there are laws already in place to prevent noncitizen voting in federal elections. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires individuals registering to vote to attest “under penalty of perjury” that they are a US citizen, with state election offices using other tools to verify citizenship.
If the SAVE Act becomes law, survivors are looking at an even more complicated process to vote. For example, people in abusive relationships whose access to necessary personal documents is controlled to minimize their independence, or survivors who have fled abusive relationships and no longer have access to documents like a birth certificate, passport, or photo ID, would not be able to vote in a federal election due to a lack of proper documentation. Neither would survivors who have legally changed their name to protect their safety, as the name of their birth certificate does not match.
"Well, why don’t people renew their passports? Or buy a copy of their birth certificate?” Passport applications dropped in 2024, and approximately half of Americans do not have a US passport. And renewing your passport or getting a birth certificate copy is expensive and can be out of the picture for victims of financial abuse or survivors establishing financial independence.
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If signed into law, the SAVE Act would place yet another unnecessary burden on survivors of domestic violence and millions of other Americans. Too many Americans already face endless institutional barriers to the ballot box. Survivors do not need more obstacles to making their voices heard. Tell Congress to oppose the SAVE Act suite of bills.