The Trump-Backed Voting Bill Will Suppress the Native Vote
(The New Republic) – When Jaynie Parrish, the executive director and founder of Arizona Native Vote, saw the details of the Republican elections bill President Donald Trump has called his “number one priority,” her first thought was: “Here we go again.”
Parrish, who is Navajo, has seen firsthand how Native voters living on tribal lands already face significant challenges to voting access. She views this legislation, which would add proof of citizenship and photo ID requirements to participate in federal elections, as yet another roadblock for Native voters to overcome in order to exercise their voting rights.
“It’s going to make it more labor-intensive, more impossible, and it’s putting that much more burden on the voter to even get registered successfully, and then even to be counted,” said Parrish.
At Trump’s behest, the Senate this week is engaging in extended debate over the SAVE America Act, which has already been approved by the House of Representatives. The measure would require that Americans present proof of citizenship, such as a U.S. passport or a birth certificate, to cast a ballot. It would also require voters to present a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, at their polling location; for citizens in states with mail-in voting, this would entail sending photocopies of the necessary documents. The bill would mandate states submit their voter rolls to a federal database to identify noncitizen voters, even though the program has been riddled with errors.
Trump has threatened not to sign any other legislation until the SAVE America Act is passed, which may prove easier said than done. The debate is expected to take several days, but the measure currently does not have the votes to pass in the upper chamber without blowing up the legislative filibuster—a strategy that also does not have sufficient support, even among Republican lawmakers. Trump has also said that he wants language added to further restrict voting by mail, despite skepticism from some GOP senators, and a vote on such an amendment is expected at some point during the marathon debate.
The legislation purports to solve the problems of noncitizen voting and voter fraud, both of which are already illegal and exceedingly rare, as Trump continues his crusade to reshape federal elections in Republicans’ favor and relitigate his 2020 loss. The president has said that the legislation is critical to safeguarding the GOP majorities in the House and Senate in the November midterm elections, when Republican control of both chambers is under threat from Democratic takeover.
The legislation could make it more difficult for several demographics to vote, including Native American voters, who already face systemic barriers when casting a ballot. It would require a person voting by mail to provide proof of citizenship in person before the registration deadline, which advocates argue undermines the very purpose of mail-in voting.