THE PROPOSED SAVE ACT WOULD SUPPRESS VOTING

 

For months, President Trump and his administration have been fixated on one issue. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with ending the war in Iran or with the affordability of groceries and gasoline.

Trump’s primary goal this spring and summer has been the passage of the SAVE Act and its expanded version, the SAVE America Act (the Act). Trump is apparently convinced that these voter suppression measures would prevent some citizens likely to cast ballots for Democrats from exercising their right to vote in the November midterms. The proposed voter suppression law is intended to stem the tide of a blue Democratic wave that is poised to regain control of at least one chamber of Congress.

Trump is afraid that a Democratic landslide in the November midterms would mark the end of his unchallenged authoritarian rule. Moreover, if Democrats are in the majority and in control of Congressional committees, they would immediately begin investigations into Trump’s illegalities. This would include the blatant corruption of the Trump family and members of his inner circle.

For decades, mostly at the state level, a central tenet of Republican politics has been to win elections by making it difficult for their opponents to vote. Through enactment of laws that disproportionately burden minority voters (those requiring photo identification, restricting early voting, limiting registration opportunities, and purging voter rolls), Republicans have consistently sought to carve out of the electorate those that don’t support them. 

In 2016, North Carolina Republican lawmakers requested data on various voting practices, broken down by race. They then passed laws that restricted voting and registration in many ways that disproportionately affected African Americans, including cutting back on early voting. According to the ACLU, between 2008 and 2012, 70% of African American voters voted early in North Carolina.  After cuts to early voting, African American turnout in early voting was down by 8.7% (around 66,000 votes). The Fourth Circuit Appeals Court overturned this limitation on early voting.

Several states controlled by Republicans have attempted to suppress voting by requiring voter identification at polling places. It is common for states that have enacted these laws to demand forms of ID that are more often carried by white voters than minority ones, like drivers’ and gun licenses. Moreover, student IDs are often not permitted to lower the Democratic advantage in towns with colleges and universities.

Republicans have learned that they can suppress unwanted voters by intentionally causing long lines at voting places favored by Democrats. This is accomplished by limiting the number of voting machines or by excessively challenging voters to slow down voting in certain wards.

The purging of voter registration lists is a flawed process used to remove unwanted voters. The procedure is notorious for deleting valid voters. Purged eligible voters who recently got married or moved show up to vote on Election Day and find that they can’t cast a regular ballot.

Since Trump lost the presidency in 2016, MAGA election denial groups have been challenging voters’ eligibility on a massive scale. The groups pressure officials to investigate large numbers of voters based on unreliable information and conspiracy theories.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress took notice of the above suppression actions introduced by Republican state legislators. The original SAVE legislation was drafted by the ultraconservatives Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). While the Act has so far failed to gain traction, Trump refuses to give up on its passage.

Finally, on July 21, House Republicans voted to attach the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027. This is a last-ditch effort before the midterms to pass unpopular and dangerous voter suppression measures by shoehorning it into unrelated legislation.

How will this Act suppress voting? 1) Under the bill, voters wouldn’t be able to register to vote with their driver's license alone because licenses generally do not indicate citizenship. Instead, they would need a harder to obtain form of documentation, like a U.S. passport or birth certificate. 

2) The Act would implement a national voter ID requirement that is more burdensome than current state voter ID laws. 

3) The bill would severely threaten mail registration and require online registration systems to be overhauled to fit the bill’s requirements. During Senate floor debate, the President filed a now included amendment to significantly restrict Americans’ ability to vote by mail.

4) The Act mandates that states conduct frequent voter purges, even those based on faulty data. In addition, every state would be required to submit its voter registration list to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comparison to the agency’s error ridden data base.

5) There is a provision that election workers could go to prison for up to five years if they help to register somebody without the correct documents, even if the registered voter is a citizen.

In March of this year, Trump told a group of Republican lawmakers that passing the Acts would “guarantee the midterms” for Republicans. The bottom line is that there is no proof of the types of fraud Trump has cited to justify the legislation. The only justification for passing the Act is to prevent eligible Democrats from voting.

The SAVE America Act is currently in the U.S. Senate. Concerned voters should immediately contact our Pennsylvania Senators and voice opposition to this flagrant attempt to impose voter suppression.