Making it “harder and more expensive” for Americans to vote not necessary
An OPINION by Hilary Gunning, Wellsville
The White House wants you to be a simple thinker. I just watched Karoline Leavitt forcefully defend the SAVE America and SAVE bills by saying they don’t “prohibit” anyone from voting other than non-citizens.
That is true. No one is disagreeing with that statement. There is no explicit, simple prohibition in these bills directed at American citizens.
But Americans have to think more deeply than that. More complexly. We have to think about context and real-world consequences. That’s a pain to have to do, but especially when it comes to federal legislation, there’s no such thing as “Well, that’s what the law explicitly says, so that’s all we have to concern ourselves with.”
The explicit prohibitions in these bills do not directly and immediately threaten American citizens. But the implications of enacting them in the real world have very clear and very serious consequences for all Americans and disproportionate effects on specific segments of our communities.
I have a passport. I know exactly where my original birth certificate is. I changed my name when I got married, but I have easy access to my marriage certificate. For me personally, the ID requirements in these bills are annoying but not onerous. But I recognize that this is very much not the case for millions of Americans for a multitude of reasons.
It is incredibly common for American citizens to have no easy access to these documents for all kinds of reasons, and getting replacements can be time-consuming and expensive, especially for those in rural areas. And under these bills, in order to register to vote or to renew your registration if your record is removed from the voter rolls in one of the monthly purges (also included in the legislation) or for any other reason, you will need them.
And it gets more difficult for specific groups and individuals. If you got married and took your husband’s name, you have to have specific documents to prove it. If you were adopted and took a different name, you have to have specific documents to prove it. What if you had a home fire or you moved and lost those documents? What if you just turned 18 and want to register for the first time? Do you have a driver’s license? Maybe you live in a city and never felt the need. Well, if one of these bills passes, you will have another hoop to jump through before you can practice your Constitutional right (not “privilege,” by the way) to vote.
These bills don’t have to say, “Married women aren’t allowed to vote.” They just have to make it harder and more expensive for them to register, and many will not be able to do it. They don’t have to say, “Young people aren’t allowed to vote.” They just have to make it harder and more expensive for them to register, and many will not be able to do it. And I’m telling you, there are countless different reasons these bills will impact millions of Americans in diverse, minute ways.
But hey, after all this, there’s actually some great news! This complex problem actually has a very simple solution.
The SAVE America and SAVE bills are only proposed to address one problem: non-citizens voting. Well, we’re in luck: it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote! And there are serious consequences if they try!
But what if they do it anyway? Well, they don’t. Undisputed data compiled from voting records across the country show that, out of tens of millions of votes in any given election, instances of non-citizens attempting to vote are in the tens. Like 30. Out of tens of millions. As far as impacts on election results, it might as well be 0.
So here’s the solution: Just don’t pass these bills. Just don’t pass them. They’re purporting to solve problems that already have solutions and aren’t really real-world problems to begin with, and they create vast new problems for millions of American citizens. So just….can we not?
