Voters voted at Fairmont Middle School in Boise at Idaho Primary on May 17, 2022 (Otto Kitzinger, Idaho Capital Sun)
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill Thursday, requiring voters to provide evidence of U.S. citizenship when registering for the ballot, and approved Republicans’ priorities against Democrats who said the bill would create hurdles only for eligible voters without actually improving fraud protection.
220-208 votes The measure was sent to the US Senate, where it faced difficult roads and overcame the Chamber of Commerce’s 60 votes requirement for most laws. If enacted, the bill requires that it be obtained from the states responsible for managing elections and those who register to vote in federal election documents certifying US citizenship.
Acceptable documents under the law include valid federal government-issued photo IDs and states or tribes indicating that the applicant is born in the United States. Alternatively, it may include a valid government-issued photo ID and another document proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a certificate of naturalization.
Four House Democrats, Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Grusenkamp Perez of Washington, and Henry Cuerell of Texas – Henry Cuerell of Texas, joined all Republicans who attend the vote in favour of the bill.
Supporters of the bill say immigrants need to be kept within the country without voting for legal status.
Some local governments allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, but it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections.
GOP priorities
By tackling fraudulent votes and illegally targeting immigrants within the country, the bill addresses two boards of Republican platforms under President Donald Trump. Trump has consistently established himself as a hardline immigrant figure, and continues to voice his denied claims that the fraud caused losses to the 2020 election.
During this week’s floor debate, Texas Republican Chip Roy, sponsoring the bill, said the measure was entitled to protect, save, save and act the qualifications of American voters.
“Republicans are dealing with Americans who are tired of the previous administration that allowed illegals to come to our country, kill our citizens, vote in elections, and undermine our country,” Roy said. “And we’re working on their concerns and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle don’t want to deal with it.”
Hurdles for citizens
But Democrats said the measure didn’t need to prevent very rare cases of non-citizen votes in federal elections, and only makes voting more difficult for eligible citizens, including married women who have changed their name but have not updated their documents.
“I think Texas gentlemen are happy to learn that only American citizens can vote in federal elections,” Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern said after Roy’s comments. “Our problem with the Save Act is that it is an attempt to make it even more difficult for women, women who are US citizens in this country to vote.”
At a virtual press conference on Thursday, the National Democratic secretary, the offices of most states responsible for election management, highlighted the difficulties for eligible voters.
“Losing your driver’s license or birth certificate, expire your passport, getting married, or taking the last name of your partner will prevent voters from hearing their voices in a free and fair election.” “Replacing just one of these documents requires time and money, not to mention the multiple documents needed to register, but not all Americans have.
“Women who are eligible to vote should not be stopped at the ballot box by (House Speaker) Mike Johnson and Donald Trump.”
