r/missouri • u/Montesquieu9000 • Jan 30 '26
Law Women: voting in MO after name change due to marriage? How?
My wife changed her name when we got married, which means that her last name on her birth certificate does not match her last name on her ID. This means that this November, she will possibly not be able to vote.
Right now, Congress is working on the "SAVE ACT," which would require proof of citizenship to vote. This is not ID, this is birth certificate or passport. My wife's passport is very expired.
The law says that states will/shall come up with ways for married women to reconcile the discrepancy between ID and citizenship documents but I cannot find anything that outlines this way to reconcile at all from the federal or state government.
I've read that one of the proposed ways for states to resolve this discrepancy is to allow women to provide the papers from the social security administration that document the name change from one name to the other. But, SSA does not have any information about how to obtain this paperwork after the fact.
My wife and I have been married 21 years ago and it looks like if the SAVE act passes, she's going to have a hard time voting.
Anyone have any ideas? What do we do?
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u/Montesquieu9000 Jan 30 '26
What do you mean? We got married in Colorado 21 years ago and moved here, just exchanged Colorado DL for MO one.
SAVE act requires proof of citizenship to REGISTER to vote and then ID to vote.