- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Donald Trump threatened on Sunday to withhold his signature from all bills until Congress passes a GOP-led voting bill that implements voter restrictions ahead of the November midterms.
“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, requires individuals to show citizenship documents to register to vote and strict forms of photo ID to cast a ballot. If passed, the legislation would also administer criminal penalties for election officials who register anyone lacking the required documents.
As my colleague Ari Berman wrote in February, the bill would potentially block tens of millions of Americans from voting. Nine percent of American citizens, or approximately 21 million people, don’t have ready access to citizenship documents. The bill may impact millions of US citizens in other ways: tens of millions of women who took their partner’s last name, for example, may not have a birth certificate that matches their legal name could find it more difficult to register.
as others have stated the US doesn’t have what other countries would consider a national ID. they have a Drivers License and a Passport, that’s it. I think some states might have a regular photo ID but I’m not sure it’s been several years since I lived in the US. and then some people have like a military ID.
The problem is other than the Passport none of those are proof of citizenship. None citizens can get a drivers license, none citizens can serve in the military, none citizens can even get a social security number/card. So the only way to prove citizenship is like Passport or Birth Certificate. Not even sure how US Citizens who became citizens after landing would prove it and with how ICE is that would be an extremely risky thing to present/prove when going to vote.
So then you have the problem that A. Not everyone has/can afford a Passport and B. not everyone has a Birth Certificate or their name has changed on it or their gender has changed, etc.
Thus when you consider all these things you then realize that voting in the US only a fraction of the US population would be 100% eligible. and EVEN then they could deny you for whatever reason they deemed fit. And even just requiring a passport and birth certificate it’s easy to then figure out WHO they’re targeting based on demographics. Low income people aren’t going to have a passport, like it or not a majority of Black Americans aren’t going to have one, Trans people won’t be eligible, Women who married likely won’t be if they took their spouses last name, people who were adopted, all US citizens that became one after immigrating to the US, etc, etc, etc.
This country is so weird… It is so full of stuff that makes no sense. And the strange part (to me) is how natural this is for its inhabitants.