US President Donald Trump, on Friday, February 13, threatened to try to bypass Congress and force new voting laws ahead of the November midterm elections, where his Republican Party fears losing control of the legislature. Trump said he would soon issue an executive order attempting to impose the rules if Congress does not pass a law requiring photo identification to vote and other nationwide reforms.
Any attempt would likely be met by a legal challenge that could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. “There will be Voter ID for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “If we can’t get it through Congress, there are Legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted. I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order,” he wrote.
While many jurisdictions across the United States require photo ID to cast ballots, not all do, with Trump and many Republicans arguing without evidence that those areas have permitted significant voter fraud.
The Trump-backed “SAVE America” election reform act passed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives this week. However, it is expected to fail in the Senate, where the Republican majority is too slim to pass the law without Democratic support.
In addition to requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot, the bill would also require proof of citizenship to register to vote. There is no evidence of meaningful fraud in US elections and critics say that the bill’s measures would instead push millions of people away from casting ballots, because they don’t have a passport or a paper copy of their birth certificate.
Proof of citizenship is already required to vote. That’s what you’re doing when you register to vote. Then, a secondary validation of a sample of ballots is typically completed to ensure that there isn’t fraud.
Obviously, they’re just trying anything and everything to not lose the midterms, and their voters go rabid over just the mention of voter fraud. I’m just rambling to the void because this new wave of fraud allegations is so fucking stupid and see through.
These news stories are treating this like a real legal issue, but Trump’s EOs have as much jurisdiction on voting procedures as they have in deciding what I’m going to have for dinner. It doesn’t need a legal challenge because it doesn’t apply to anyone who actually decides what IDs are required.
It should be reported, but as authoritarian ravings completely inconsistent with our voting systems rather than a looming legal clash where we need the Supreme Court to decide what’s right.
Part of the point is to get that incorrect idea into the minds of the population. It’s seeding other ‘Jan 6’ events in states that correctly ignore Trump’s nonsense.
The coverage is fine but the phrasing of these articles is downright subversive. Every single headline should be “Trump pretends he can cancel midterms” or “Trump hallucinates authority to change state voting laws”
Things like “…threatens to order new laws” or “…floats canceling election” or “…nationalize voting security” only serve to muddy the conversation. These things are explicitly not within his power and never will be possible (barring a farce amendment push, which can’t happen before November). He cannot do them even if he pretends to do them.
The only thing that could happen is blatantly unconstitutional election interference (probably by force). Add that as a tagline to every article. Then when people show up to ICE goons monitoring their polling place their first thought won’t be “hmmm, must be [Trump’s new law/a canceled election/national voting security]”. They’ll properly think “why tf is this guy here?..”.
Trump says it’s chicken tonight!
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
THE PRESIDENT IS NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE LAWS! THAT IS NOT HOW THIS WORKS!
God, the US is so beyond fucked.
I already know exactly how this is gonna happen… He’s floating it now, he’ll DO it in August, a Federal judge will stop it, the Supreme Court will let it stand pending appeal, and then they won’t take up the case until December, by which point it won’t MATTER what they rule.
Not only does the federal government have no authority over elections, the executive especially has no purview there.
That would be completely antithetical to the nature of democratic elections.
But these fascists don’t like democracy.
I was just reading a story this morning, that the GOP is now looking to scuttle the SAVE act as functionally it’d require passports in most all states except a few.
Why are they trying to scuttle it? They finally saw the data that most people who own passports are actually left leaning in nature. Throughout the south, majority of republicans don’t have passports.
This law could inadvertently flip all of the Red strongholds in attempt to get swing states. Gotta love it.
Especially when the original intent was likely to disenfranchise women. Whoops.
That would be hilarious.
GOP dont travel anywhere outside the us, or even thier state. thats why they have a bubble of communities. if they did they are likely to “Broaden thier horizens about different people” strong if on likely.
it make sense, since the process of getting a passport for the FIRST time is pretty arduous process and takes a long time. plus you have to set up appointments with the usps or some other agency which can be booked weeks or months in advance. plus there is likely even less location in red areas that would do passport processing, which are possibly done in BIG cities. its not as simple as mialing in or going to your local dmv.
Are we like still doing the constitution?
Nah, states don’t get to run their own elections no more
So we’re just accepting pedofile rule or we’re going to overthrow this bitch?
You literally already need to prove you are an eligible voter to register to vote.
But if we don’t go further we wouldn’t be able to disenfranchise voters at the ballot box, where they would have no recourse. Think of the children!
You mean the children that got diddled by Trump and Epstien?
Correct. When Republicans say “think of the children” the sick, the evil fuckers mean sexually.
Actually, you technically don’t. The only citizenship requirement that the Federal Government puts on voting is that you affirm, under penalty of perjury, that you are a citizen, which moves the burden of proof. If a government official thinks someone registered themselves illegally, it’s up to the government to prove it.
Some states will impose their own documentation requirements, with varying levels of force. Some states have their own forms that require proof, but still accept the Federal form which only asks for the affirmation. Others will accept the Federal form, but will only register those people for Federal elections. (A small handful of states do not take the Federal form at all, and I am not yet sure why.)
All states will require some proof of address (like a drivers license), only because they will need to know which district to put you in. Yet there was a court case in the 80s that homeless people without a permanent address (and presumably without their documentation) were still entitled to be able to vote if they hold citizenship.
North Dakota has no statewide voter registration at all, but that turns out to be a bad thing too, because it required proving eligibility every time someone votes.
More good info at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_registration_in_the_United_States
Didn’t he try this last year in March, they took him to court, he lost, and his administration didn’t even bother to appeal it because they knew he was going to lose? Is this his dementia brain not remembering things?
Maybe the court is more sympathetic (AKA being blackmailed harder by Epstein’s ghost)
Trump isn’t the one pushing this. He says what he’s told to say.
I’m not gonna lie here… as someone who lives in a country that requires photo ID when voting, I am more upset with the fact that you guys don’t have a national ID of some kind that is issued for free to everyone regardless of whether they can drive or not. This is a preexisting vulnerability that he’s exploiting.
EDIT: “In most cases, you will need either a driver’s license or a state ID to register to vote. If you do not have either of these, you may be able to provide other types of documentation, including a bank statement or utility bill. But the required documents you need to register vary by state. Check with your state’s election office to find out what documentation they accept.”
I see some states may have made an attempt at it? Also, how does a utility bill or a bank statement prove your citizenship in the US? Are they getting information about your citizenship from your bank? I assume non-citizens are allowed to open a bank account, right?
If I’m woefully uninformed, please disregard.
Evidence of citizenship and identification are 2 different things. You can have a driver’s license or state ID without being a citizen. Proof of citizenship is more difficult - especially for married women whose names won’t match their birth certificate.
The most common reason to prove citizenship right now is when starting a new job, where they’ll ask for either a passport or a social security card and state-issued photo ID.
how does a utility bill or a bank statement prove your citizenship in the US?
Those don’t prove citizenship, they prove residency, which is something completely different.
Which is really covering the greater risk of illegal voting. Way more illegal votes cast by people who move and vote in their former home (possibly in addition to their new home) than non-citizens trying to vote.
In most cases, you will need either a driver’s license or a state ID to register to vote
That is true in all states here. Republicans are obsessed with having ID at the poll itself. Everything they say about non-citizens voting without ID is a strawman argument because a majority of us Americans are dipshits and believe it.
He cannot “order new laws”. He doesn’t have that authority.
Unless we are in a fascist regime.
Unless we are in a fascist regime.
We are.
Guess what
Fascist butt
Laws require compliance and enforcement. Him being fascist and declaring it doesn’t make it the new rule. He’d need to send loyal soldiers to take over polling places for this to work. And there are a lot more polling places than he has brown shirts to take over and the public is agitated and motivated to stop it.
Fascism isn’t a yes or no question. Nazi Germany still had agents of the state who would only follow the law (as defined by the “process”) and not simple dictates by Hitler. And Trump’s level of control is much much much smaller than Hitler’s. He can’t even pass votes in the legislature controlled by his own party.
It’s useful to call out fascism in no uncertain terms when it’s used to wake up the sleepwalkers, but overstating its power out inevitability just seems to be encouraging surrender.
he will try to sic his ICE pigs on purple areas in red states. it wont work in blue state, since you can universally vote by mail, and having numerous polling places that are not on official buildings.
You aren’t going to believe this…
Fine. I bypass Trump and order new guillotines. The French has made some seriously nice ones this year.
they were all in one place a couple times last year, we could hit them all in one fell swoop.
Non-stop Mr. Burns shenanigans from this guy. Where’s Maggie Simpson when you need her?
The new law
Can anyone explain to someone who’s not from there why is it a bad thing to require photo ID?
In my country, you don’t have to register to vote. You need to register your residence (aka: where you live) and that gives you access to all the services of the area and also let’s you vote assigning you an electoral area where you cast your ballot.
Still, when you are voting, you need to go there with your ID (which has always a photo) and it’s checked before voting. Why in the US that’s a problem so big? Why are they fearing this could be used to manipulate the elections?
In the US, issuance of a photo ID is neither guaranteed nor free for all citizens. There is no simple registry for citizens within the US (unless you count the Social Security number which is incredibly flawed). While things such as driver’s licenses and passports serve as defacto identification, they are not universally held by everyone (fees are required for both, not everyone owns a vehicle, not everyone travels internationally). This also applies to home addresses and other proxies for voter identification, since they are generally insufficient in restrictive states.
Additionally, things such as voter roll purges and additional burdens placed on the participant (such as removing mail-in opportunities, since election day is not a holiday) tend to have the effect of excluding voters from participation, especially in lower-income communities who are unable to afford to take time off or go through the additional hurdles.
Throw on top of that the surveillance state apparatus and general distrust from the public regarding further extending our personal lives to the federal government since (and perhaps before) the 2001 Patriot Act, and you can see why a lot of people are not a fan of this push. The Real ID fiasco in the 2010s is a good example of outspoken pushback throughout implementation.
sidenote: a lot of the requirements for registration are put in place by GOP leaders to fuck over democratic party voter bases. An automatic registration system would be awesome, but no red tie would fuckin’ vote for it because it would doom their ability to have selective representation in their districts.
For those in poverty and without cars, trying to get somewhere to get an ID made can take a large amount of time and non-zero amount of money (even if just in trying to get to a DMV/BMV/DPS office) that they may not otherwise have.
Exactly.
And these hardships are not accidental and will be even less accidental if they’re the barrier to voting. How many DMV offices exist in different locations or how strict the documentation requirements are is a lever for bad faith actors to selectively suppress votes.
theres also a problem when a dmv employee can arbitrarly deny the proof citizenship, if they dont believe its an actual one or they see it as a “fake”
likely if they require passport as another form of idea, thats also a very difficult thing to get, usually appoints are planned out months in advance to get a passport/pic.
plus closing down polling locations, restricting time when the voters are opened, and either saddling or closing down dmvs to discourage more voters from getting an id in Democratic areas. another favorite is red state restricting voting to only your district of residence.
One of the big issues is that IDs aren’t free. So those that don’t have IDs are generally low income. So you essentially disenfranchise poor voters. It’s basically seen as a poll tax.
As to the proof of citizenship, many more do not have proof of citizenship, much less carry it on them.
Our voting laws are a hodgepodge of Federal and State laws. The current Federal voter registration form (which States are obligated to accept) asks you to simply affirm (under penalty of perjury) that you are a citizen. Conservatives point to this as “proof” that the voter rolls must be filled with non-citizens, probably because they are so comfortable with lying.
In fact, some Conservative states impose their own documentation requirements, and if someone comes with that Federal form they accept it, but only let them vote in elections with Federal positions on the ballot (President, Senator, Representative). If there are Federal and non-Federal positions on the same ballot, they hand that citizen a different ballot, with fewer choices, only because they didn’t fill out the right form when registering in the first place.
But a non-citizen would be nuts to sign that form, because if they are found out then they could be prosecuted for a crime, and likely deported. And for what? The chance to offer a tiny bit of influence in our politics? Most people here illegally are looking to keep off of the governments radar, not to hand them a form that says “please arrest me!”
Furthermore, Trump’s ramblings are triggering some people because of his emphasis on names matching exactly. Yes, they prove citizenship, but many voting age citizens have changed their name in adulthood. Many women look at Trump’s rants as a direct attack on the right of married women to vote, because their original citizenship documents have a different name on them. And, sure enough, there is a push for Household Voting in some Conservative circles these days.
TL;DR: Requiring ID (vs. simply asking for a sworn affirmation) causes more problems than it solves, and people are concerned about this administration using it to push the country backwards.
its voter suppression, the fact that you need an extra layer of ID to even vote. besides the gop doing this in red states are not doing it in good faith, it requires fees and time to get the id. which most people wont likely have time to get. plus they can also shuttle or saddle DMVs with nonsense. Also proof of citizenship can be arbitrarily denied by a dmv or other worker simply if they dont believe its an actual copy. Also they are unlikely to saddle red districts with this kind of problem.
in blue states its pretty much just registering to vote like place of residency or citizenship, no extra proof needed
I don’t know if this is still a thing in certain places but they used to physically take your driver’s license if you got a speeding ticket and then give it back to you when you paid the ticket.
Or get arrested at a protest and your ID was “misplaced” at the jailhouse or “fell out of your pocket” during the arrest. It doesn’t need to be gone for good, just missing long enough to disenfranchise you.
