Congress is considering a bill that would effectively ban mail- in voting in states like Oregon, and add new ID requirements experts say could make it far harder to register to vote.
In a call with reporters Tuesday, Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley called the bill "voter suppression." He said he anticipated if passed, the bill could disenfranchise millions of women who changed their name when they got married, including his wife.
It would allow the government to disenroll voters that have names that don’t match their birth certificates.
"Some certainly will re-register, but many of them will end up being decertified from voting,” he said. “That's a huge assault on a basic right of every citizen."
Merkley said if the bill passed before the May election, it would be very difficult for Oregon to comply. In addition to requiring a passport or two forms of identification to register, Oregon would be required to have voters mail in a printed copy of their ID to count their vote.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read has also publicly criticized the bill, saying the U.S. Constitution gives the power to run elections to the states, Oregon elections are secure, and fraud is extremely rare. In a video posted to social media last month, Read called the bill a “terrible solution in search of a problem.”
Merkley acknowledged that Republicans likely do not have the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, but said he was concerned they could use a procedure known as the “nuclear option” to reinterpret rules to push the proposal through.
Other Oregon lawmakers have also criticized the SAVE Act, including Rep. Val Hoyle, who voted against it in the House.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Read raised alarms against the bill in a press conference last week.
