SAVE Act...
Yeah Okay
Yesterday the Republicans (and one lost dem) in the House voted to proceed with the SAVE Act.
What is the SAVE Act you ask?
Trash. Voter suppression.
Desperate.
The lie is in the name.
Introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act requires voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of registration.
They wanted to be cute and say they are ‘safeguarding voter eligibility’
One huge problem… the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 explicitly prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
So… why are we doing this?
Well playing up racism is a big one. Make people believe these ‘illegal voters’ are voting for OUR representatives.
Remember 2020/1 and Stop the Steal?
Think back to Jan 6, when a bunch of future ICE employees rioted and stormed the US Capitol all under the fake assertion the election was stolen.
Who stole it? Are they in the room with us right now?
But Really Tho, Racism
The less educated and less melanated raised a fit when areas didn’t vote for the orange one.
Especially urban areas in more rural states.
It created a conundrum for Captain Sunkist..they were losing states that had a lot of white people because of the parts of the state that were not as white.
Notice all the counties that he tried to take to court were counties where larger populations of Black and brown people voted.
The ONLY logical explanation is where we live, we cheat, but ONLY if they lose there. If they eek out a win…all good.
STOP THE COUNT!!!
I had a conversation around this time with a former republican friend. He is still republican— but he said there was nothing wrong with only counting legal votes.
My issue— that comment alone presupposed ILLEGAL votes.
That isn’t how this works my guy. And this law is NOT NEEDED.
Election Integrity is Important
But this is not the way.
The SAVE Act would require American citizens to show documents like a passport or birth certificate to register to vote.
A passport is NOT CHEAP
If you don’t have plans or money to ever leave the country, like most poorer Black or brown people, then why would I spend money I don’t have on a passport to never use?
Birth certificates range 10-30 dollars but you need certain documentation and the time to do it.
And before I get further into it, don’t let them lie and tell you it just takes a REAL ID or something we should "all have”
Because that is wrong.
No matter how loudly Scott Jennings wants to yell it. It is a lie.
Cooked him.
According to recent studies:
9% of all eligible voters do not have, or do not have easy access to, documentary proof of citizenship.
52% of registered voters do not have an unexpired passport with their current legal name.
11% of registered voters do not have access to their birth certificate.
The SAVE Act is a poll tax. Pure and simple. And in case you forgot, poll taxes were outlawed under section 10 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Lastly, I wrote yesterday how women are people:
Well this stupid law would make it much harder for married women to vote. Someone who has changed their name through marriage or court order may need to present a third document (such as a marriage certificate) to join their proof of citizenship (e.g., birth certificate) with their proof of identity (e.g., driver’s license), further decreasing the likelihood that a voter will have the appropriate documentation on hand to successfully register.
That is a lot of documentation to think about and locate.
SAVE US
The SAVE Act is a lie.
Actually no it isn’t.
It is a sad attempt to save someone, just not America.
It is wealthy old white men trying to save themselves from being subject to voters and accountability.
That is all it saves.