Republicans successfully brought the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor for debate on Tuesday, and Democrats sure do sound like they’re in full panic mode. The talking points were predictable, and we’ve heard them all before — the usual accusations of disenfranchisement, minorities unable to get IDs, married women losing access to the ballot, and their new favorite line about getting passports. Bogus fear-mongering, all of it. These concerns are literally all addressed in the text of the bill itself. So what’s the real reason they’re opposing it?
I’ve always said it’s because Democrats rely on fraudulent votes for power. That’s also the reason why the provisions of the SAVE America Act are widely popular, save for with Democrats in Congress. They won’t say that, of course, but Sen. Patty Murray actually let the cat out of the bag on the Senate floor.
First, let’s be clear about what this bill actually does. The SAVE America Act requires a photo ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. That’s it. There is literally nothing controversial about this.
Yet, Murray took to the floor and said, “Just consider all the people who will face new challenges just to vote, for no good reason. If you are a student who just moved to start college, Republicans will make it harder for you to vote because if this bill passes, you will need to show a photo ID and proof of citizenship in every single state, but a student ID won’t count. Many tribal IDs also won’t be enough under the new Republican restrictions.”
Read that again slowly.
Murray’s great concern is that students won’t be able to vote using their college IDs. But here’s the thing — domestic students who attend school out of state are not voting residents of that state, just because they go to school there. They are still residents of wherever home is. I grew up in Massachusetts and went to college in Connecticut, but I didn’t officially move to Connecticut. I didn’t register to vote there. When elections came, I voted absentee. That’s how it works, that’s how it has always worked, and it is entirely legal and straightforward. No student needs to vote in the state where his or her college is located, unless he or she literally goes through the process of changing his/her residency. The scenario Murray is describing isn’t a suppression crisis — it’s a thing that shouldn’t be happening at all.
Hellbound and Down 