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.
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.
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.
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.
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.