Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act - End of Democracy or Its Savior?

Politics & Elections
1

We started discussing this in the “compendium of horrors” thread. Since it is likely to be a big topic this year, I’m making a new thread.

Here’s the mainstream liberal/progressive take:

Brennan Center for Justice, Feb 11, 2025: SAVE Act Would Undermine Voter Registration for All Americans

The above is true but misses something more important. The SAVE Act would save American democracy by taking several points off of GOP vote totals.

The inconvenience would properly be blamed on the GOP.

Beyond that, consider this from NBC News:

Who do you think is more likely to have Real ID or a passport? People with more education, or less? Isn’t it obvious that the Democrats are the world travelers and/or listened to the government when it told them to get Real ID? Democrats will confidently register, knowing they have sterling ID.

And even without Real ID or a passport, reliable Democratic voters will go through the hassle of registering because they believe in voting. The intermittent voters who kinda like the idea of a strongman – not so much.

And what about married women who changed their name and do not have a passport or Real ID? If they’ve heard claims that registering could be an issue for them, many will not bother. I know there’s a gender gap. But honestly folks, married woman, changed name – is that the subgroup driving the gender gap? I say no. It’s the single women, and last-name-keepers, who are heavily Democratic. They’ll register at higher rates than their conventional, more GOP, sisters.

In the past, when I pointed to voter suppression as being a GOP own-goal, Democrats here told me that even if it was true, as a matter of principle they still opposed it. But now that the GOP President is eliminating humanitarian foreign aid, and the GOP Congress is planning to thoroughly gut Medicaid and food benefits, how about another principle? Let’s do what’s needed so we can feed the hungry and care for the sick.

If you disagree, please shoot down my logic – because I don’t want the Republican minority here to believe it. If you are a Democrat, or a never-Trumper, who agrees, silence here is fine. Just write your Democratic House or Senate member, suggesting they do nothing to slow this GOP own goal.

2

Whether it advantages the GOP or the Democrats, this bill still disenfranchises voters. That’s all I need to know, to oppose it.

3

It will be selectively enforced

4

Zoobi, that’s a great point I hadn’t thought of.

Republicans believe in the SAVE Act. So in registration locations where most voters, and election workers, are Republicans, it would be stringently enforced.

In registration locations where most locals are Democrats, election workers would also enforce this repugnant law, because Democrats believe in the rule of law. But they would do so as liberally as they could in good conscience, helping potential voters whenever possible.

Advantage: Democrats.

5

That’s not the way selective enforcement has ever worked before.

Like, take the literacy tests in the South, before the courts ruled against them: The literacy test for a white man would consist of “Spell the word ‘pig’, and remember that it’s got a P, an I, and a G in it”, while the test for a black man would be “Spell the word ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’, and I didn’t quite catch that, but I’m pretty sure you got it wrong”.

Republicans would never enforce the rules, at all, against the “Right Sort of People”. They would use the rules as an excuse against the “Wrong Sort of People”, even if those people followed the rules to the letter.

6

The federal government, of course, does not register voters.

States do, which means it would be up to each individual state to figure out how to handle enforcement of this law.

7

No, advantage Republicans. They will make people they don’t want voting jump through as many hoops as possible. People they do want voting will have an easy path.

8

This proposed law will make it extremely difficult for those of us overseas, including miitary members and theri accompanying family members, to register or re-register to vote. Add into it the current attempt at a massive financial destruction of the federal government, and there will simply be no way to get registered/re-registered. Then the next step will be verifying a massive amount of documentation submitted along with the ballot for the actual voting that will be exponentially worse than chad-gate.

This proposed legislation is a wolf in sheep’s threadbare and moth-eaten clothing.

9

I also bet this gets tied to ICE efforts and any birth certificates the powers that be find “suspect” will get flagged and ICE will swoop in and detain then until they have strong enough proof of citizenship (which will be a Kafkaesque nightmare I am sure). This fear will be publicly amplified of course to drive away registrations.

10

Sigh
Like I’ve said numerous times in Voter ID threads, if proving eligibility to vote i.e. citizenship is out of reach for citizens then the solution is to make it easy for them to get the documentation. In 2025 why should there be any difficulty in getting your birth cirtificate for example. If Dems care about the plight of the paperless so much, then why are they not out there providing outreach to get people their birth documentation, state ID’s, social security cards, voter registration, etc? Because they’d rather complain about the Big Bad Pubs than make any real change that you know, benefits people. OR just ignore the problems of the paperless and work to a system where proof of citizenship is not required to vote and F them when they need ID or a passport or other legal documentation.

11

I’m pretty sure that white men weren’t given the “literacy” tests at all. If anyone is interested, here’s what one looked like that was given to Black voters in Louisiana as late as the 1960s.

Basically, the test was shamelessly and deliberately designed to be as confusing as possible, it had to be completed in ten minutes, and even one wrong answer was disqualifying.

Voter suppression has long been a favourite tactic of bigots in general and Republicans in particular. It likely resulted in Trump’s victory last November. It’s probably only going to get worse.

12

Unless you’re suggesting that it wouldn’t apply to 'pubs at all, how will they have an easy path? Do you think they’re more liable to have their birth certificates on hand?
I’m not crazy about it regardless, but chasing down a birth certificate or getting a passport is the same pita for everyone.

13

How easily can you prove your birth certificate is valid and not a forgery?

Would you risk getting your family ripped apart or deported?

14

I have both the original hospital record of my birth and the original birth certificate issued by the county in a drawer in my bedroom. My mother gave them to me when I was a teenager because I asked her for them.

15

Is this directed at me? If so, not sure why you’re asking that as opposed to answering the question I posed.
I see you edited your post with another question, which seems to be related to immigrants(?), which also is really relevant to my statement that getting a copy of one’s birth certificate and/or a passport in the US is the same procedure for everyone.

Sorry if I’m not understanding; I understood you to mean that Republicans have an easier time producing their birth certificates and I’m asking how.

16

That was before this:

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-minded America is Tearing Us Apart

That book came out seventeen years ago, but political ideology residential segregation is only getting greater:

New York Times October 2024: Millions of Movers Reveal American Polarization in Action

The more the ideological segregation, the more likely your registrar has the same ideology you do, and the less likely they’ll conclude that you are from the other tribe. I also think that the disproportionately Republican voters who don’t have a passport or Real ID won’t even try to register, so the registrar identify will hardly ever matter.

I suspect confirmed progressives will be convinced that everything I’ve written here is irrelevant because it implicitly downplays the explanatory power of racism. I’m not saying there’s social utility in anyone agreeing with me, just what I think.

17

You have it backwards.

Before passing legislation like this, it is absolutely essential to first make it easy for voters to get the necessary documentation. Until then, it’s unconscionable to even consider enacting such a law.

But I do support the idea of making it easier for people to get required documentation, I’m all on board with that.

18

I don’t disagree, but let’s be honest … it’s the Pubs passing these laws and the Dems choose to cry about it rather than getting people the needed docs.

19

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that it’s the Republicans trying to disenfranchise people and steal elections.

But do a little research before claiming that Democrats cry and do nothing.

Big shocker, it couldn’t make it through a Republican-controlled House, and died in committee.

20

So why not do this at a state level where the meanie Republicans in Congress can’t stop it? And cost is only one issue. There are also technology and tech literacy issues. Non-standardization in methods to get documentation. Transportation to the county seat to get stuff turned in. Finding notaries. Etc. These bills are just token gestures to make people think they want to solve the problem.

I have personally helped two people get their birth certificates because they couldn’t do it themselves including paying for it. Unless someone here has a similar story it looks like I’ve done more to help than the Dems.