I am writing because the U.S. House just passed the SAVE Act. There is a similar bill in the Senate. Republicans won’t be happy until none of us are allowed to vote. They are making it harder and harder for people to vote, easier to be kicked off the rolls, easier for them to block our access, easier for people to object to 34,000 voters that they don’t even know, and challenge their right to vote. This happened in Georgia.
Now, if passed by the Senate, if you don’t go to your City Hall with the right (arbitrary) documents you need “to prove” that you are an American citizen, eligible to, and have the right to vote, you won’t be permitted to vote. They are making it easier for them to screw us at election time — like they don’t do it enough the rest of the year.
If they both pass, they are going to affect the way we vote.
There are more disturbing things on the horizon. Republicans want to increase the difficulty for us – when we vote, where we vote, and how we vote. The SAVE Act is supposed to be for increasing the safety of elections. In reality it is a voter suppression bill. They are going to force American citizens to prove that they are, in fact, a citizen. You will have to go to the clerks’ office and take a PASSPORT or a birth certificate with names matching exactly.
Not everyone has these documents. Birth certificates for women who have taken their husband’s last name will not match. There are almost 70,000,000 women in America do not own a passport, whose birth certificates names won’t match their drivers’ licenses. Passports are time consuming and costly to get, many families cannot afford $ 165 to obtain one. Isn’t that a POLL TAX???
The elderly, the disabled, Veterans, and all people of color, so many will not be able to get time off, have the money, have a ride to get to where they have to be to get either document.
The Republicans know that when Democrats vote, Democrats win. Democrats outnumber Republicans. Republicans just make sure that their states are gerrymandered to the max so they stay in power. Now they want to cement the deal. With their voter suppression bills, they may get their way.
Peggy Van Sickle
Brighton
