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To the editor:
In the early 1900s, “The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage” (founded by women) distributed a pamphlet outlining the reasons to vote no on woman suffrage:
• Because 90 percent of the women either do not want it or do not care
• Because it means competition of women with men instead of cooperation
• Because 86 percent of the women eligible to vote are married and can only double or annul their husband’s vote
• Because it can be of no benefit commensurate with the additional expense involved
• Because in some states more voting women than voting men will place government under petticoat rule
• Because it is unwise to risk the good we already have for the evil which may occur
With that kind of thinking permeating the narrative, it took pro-suffrage women over 70 years to earn the right to vote in 1920, after a long and grueling struggle. Fast forward 106 years to 2026 when the proposed SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act) could threaten the right to vote of over 69 million women who do not have a birth certificate that matches their marriage certificate but would be required to re-establish their identity to vote.
According to Vote.org, other groups that would be affected by this legislation include rural Americans, young and first-time voters, low-income voters, people of color, military members and Americans abroad and transgender Americans.
So, who would that leave with the right to vote? Certainly not me, unless I can find my birth and marriage certificates. (Now where did I put them?)
Bonnie Grenier
Sagamore Road
