Editor,
I am writing in response to Irvin Dawid’s April 17 letter to the editor that tries to make the case that the SAVE Act is not a voter suppression bill. I strongly dispute his basis for that conclusion.
Editor,
I am writing in response to Irvin Dawid’s April 17 letter to the editor that tries to make the case that the SAVE Act is not a voter suppression bill. I strongly dispute his basis for that conclusion.
The misnamed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act is a solution in search of a problem. Every person who registers has to swear under oath that they are a citizen or otherwise face prison time, a fine and/or deportation. The number of noncitizens that vote in federal and state elections is infinitesimal. For example, in 2016 The Brennan Center for Justice surveyed 42 jurisdictions with large immigrant populations and found just 30 cases of suspected noncitizens voting out of 23.5 million votes cast or 0.0001%.
The SAVE Act could potentially block 21 million American citizens from voting by in part eliminating online voter registration and DMV motor voter registration.
It would also effectively eliminate in-person voter registration drives because who carries the documentation required to register, like birth certificate, or marriage license on their person.
And these voter outreach events tend to target communities that are less likely to register, including people of color, people with disabilities and young people. This is voter suppression without a doubt.
The SAVE Act will, as Rep. Mullin said, “undermine citizens’ constitutional right to access the ballot box.” At the end of the day, the SAVE Act is simply just another example of voter suppression.
Diane Leeds
Emerald Hills
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(6) comments
Just like "climate change" or "global warming" - there is NO SUCH THING as "voter suppression" in the USA. I will bring out the term again because people seem to have forgotten - Solipsism isnt reality.
Perfect letter. Says it all. A solution in search of a problem. Mail in and early voting rules. This way there's plenty of time to parse the ballots for errors or the mystical illegal voter. Ha ha.
Also, we should be automatically registered when we reach 18 per our birth registration. Not rocket science.
When you move you just notify the new registrar of the fact, and they should make the changes and notify the old one. Same for name. sex, or whatever changes that happen along the way. Not hard really.
Mike,
I agree that it was an excellent LTE - well written and informative - I didn't know that "Every person who registers has to swear under oath that they are a citizen or otherwise face prison time, a fine and/or deportation."
Thanks for your letter, Ms. Leeds. Based on just about all Democrats not supporting the bill, I think the answer is clear that everyone should support the SAVE Act. As Democrat treachery in the past decade has shown, Democrats are not “for” the people. We see Dems of today supporting domestic and international terrorists and supporting the uncontrolled and unvetted invasion of our borders. We see Dems having more compassion and willing to go to the mat (or El Salvador) to support a violent gang member instead of American citizens in their community. As such, I’d say that the American people support anything Dems don’t want to support. It’s a matter of common sense.
BTW, how many states have purged their voter rolls of how many non-citizens? This number is nowhere close to infinitesimal. And a survey of only 42 jurisdictions with “suspected non-citizens voting”? Was this survey based on the honor system? Did the survey verify voters and their home addresses were correct? Or exist? Verifying US citizenship is of the utmost importance in carrying out free and fair elections. One has to wonder why anyone would be against it – unless, of course, they’re counting on voter fraud to win elections.
Terence - Judicial Watch has sued and won many cases in states to clean up the voter rolls. There were tens of thousands of names to be scrubbed. I don't know whether these were active voters or not, but in California they would have received a mail-in ballot. I understand for Diane the term 'infinitesimal' is relative.
Dear Diane - "Every person who registers has to swear under oath that they are a citizen or otherwise face prison time, a fine and/or deportation". Do you really believe that those who came illegally over the border and came from corrupt countries give a hoot about our laws and are afraid to be deported because of ineligibility to vote? You don't know how accurate those statistics are and you are also qualifying the 21 million by adding 'potential' to your argument. There is no suppression and don't tell me that none of these 21 million ever fly or apply for a bank account and social services. They need a valid ID to proceed. The SAVE Act is designed to limit the Democrats a leg up in elections. Why is it that Republicans are generally in favor? Please answer. California's motor voter law is an affront to election integrity, especially now that anyone with an address can get a driver license, legal or not.
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