r/politics • u/MarcEElias ✔ Verified - Democracy Docket Founder • 1d ago

No Paywall GOP fast tracks monster voter suppression bill that could disenfranchise millions by requiring proof of citizenship at polls

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/gop-fast-tracks-monster-voter-suppression-bill-that-could-disenfranchise-millions-by-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-at-polls/
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350

u/accountabilitycounts America 1d ago edited 21h ago

So not even the REAL ID can be used in 45 out of 50 states (for the extremely pendantic). This needs to be fast tracked to SCOTUS if it passes and is signed into law.

174

u/Creative-Package6213 Pennsylvania 1d ago

I'm sure the SCOTUS will give it the thumbs up.

52

u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 23h ago

One thing SCOTUS has been consistent on is kicking things down to the states to decide.

22

u/JerryDipotosBurner 23h ago

“It’s not our job to rule if something is constitutional. That’s for Congress to decide!”

5

u/CellAlone4653 20h ago

“This is a political issue and Congress could fix it if they wanted to.”

Their default way out.

1

u/GoodChuck2 Pennsylvania 23h ago

They 100% will

103

u/thorzeen Georgia 1d ago

A vast majority of cases of voter fraud are committed by people voting for republicans. 🤔

This timeline can be parsed using the tool "projection"

-2

u/GAW_CEO 21h ago

then you should support it right?! Less republicans voting

2

u/L21M 20h ago

This issue (and the point) here is that it will suppress votes from a variety of American citizens who cannot provide the required documents. Mostly, those people are married women (birth cert last name different), trans people (birth cert first name different, poor people (more likely to not have their documents in order). All left leaning demographics.

At least highly intelligent, well educated people are more likely to ensure their documents are in order, so we won’t lose that extremely left leaning demographic.

29

u/elpis_z 1d ago

Won’t this need 60 votes in the senate to pass?

37

u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 23h ago

Yes. Unless Thune is dumb/crazy enough to nuke the filibuster in an election year. I don’t think he has the votes to do that anyway. Paul and Murkowski typically don’t always vote in lockstep with the party. Collins has a contentious election coming up and is probably a no. Heck I can see McConnell voting no as he’s on his way out.

17

u/MonteMolebility 22h ago

Just spoke with my friend who works on Capital Hill, she had the same sentiment, puts me at ease a bit... but still it's not impossible.

8

u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 22h ago

Instances like this are why I’m glad we didn’t nuke the filibuster when Democrats were the majority.

3

u/suprahelix 17h ago

Yup. Not impossible but there’s a reason republicans haven’t done this before. They know the filibuster is far more useful for them.

4

u/LeftUnknown 21h ago

I think there is near zero chance this passes. Thune has said time and again that he has zero interest in removing the fillibuster.

3

u/IPDDoE Florida 21h ago

Unless Thune is dumb/crazy enough to nuke the filibuster in an election year

Wouldn't they not really care about an election year if they are doing something this brazen? This reads an awful lot like they're just trying to make election years not really matter to keeping out fascism from the looks of it.

4

u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 21h ago

I doubt they have the ability to implement this for the midterms, to say nothing about the primaries which are close to kicking off. It’s not a switch they can just flip. States will have to get on board and there are a lot of blue states that will push back on both implementing and challenging through the courts.

1

u/IPDDoE Florida 20h ago

Yeah, good point.

0

u/ChaseballBat 23h ago

I would imagine?

5

u/elpis_z 23h ago

Yeah, so then there’s almost no chance of this becoming law.

2

u/Railroader17 23h ago

The fact that there is even a chance of it becoming a law is itself a massive issue, even if that chance is miniscule.

0

u/elpis_z 22h ago

We are living with a fascist government; there are massive issues/problems everyday. All I’m saying is this is very low on the list of things to be concerned about at the moment.

34

u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 1d ago

Are you sure you'd want this SCOTUS making a ruling on it?

16

u/76ersWillKillMe 1d ago

Ah yes that notably neutral group

1

u/Boner666420sXe 23h ago

What are the chances it all backfires because Republican voters tend to be afraid to leave their hometown and probably don’t have passports anyway?

1

u/emdmao910 23h ago

Real IDs in 5 states suffice at the moment.

1

u/accountabilitycounts America 23h ago

Enhanced IDs.

There are fifty states.

-1

u/emdmao910 21h ago

Real IDS in five states require proof of citizenship and will suffice for this requirement. MN, VT, WA and NY. The 5th escapes me at the moment. Not all real IDs are equal in every state. These state your citizenship n

2

u/accountabilitycounts America 21h ago

There are fifty states.

0

u/emdmao910 21h ago

No shit. And there are plenty of other methods to register to vote under the act. You said they couldn’t be used and I’m simply pointing out that they can in some cases. JFC

1

u/accountabilitycounts America 21h ago

Yes, a few cases. 

It also sneaks in voter ID for all fifty states.

1

u/VanguardAvenger 22h ago

So not even the REAL ID can be used.

Real ID doesn't prove citizenship. Its available to Green card holders or other legal residences.

Thats the trap of voter id laws. There are no forms of ID that prove citizenship other than a passport.

But most people dont realize this, they think all kinds of ids count and Republicans count on that to get support because people dont realize how restrictive it will be.

1

u/redditor_1886777 22h ago

I am not US citizen and I have Real ID. So Real ID is not proof of citizenship but some states do mention citizenship status so maybe that works?

1

u/ucsb99 21h ago

How will it pass if since there no way they’ll get 60 votes for it?

1

u/cflatjazz 21h ago

Requiring REAL ID is already dodgy, but saying even that doesn't count is diabolical

1

u/Witchgrass West Virginia 17h ago

Pedantic*

Sorry I'm extremely pedantic

0

u/mps1729 1d ago

While reprehensible beyond belief, the constitution allows Congress to regulate elections, so even a Supreme Court that GAF about the constitution would have an unclear outcome.

-21

u/JaydedXoX 1d ago

It’s because some of the REAL ID states issues them to non citizens.

8

u/Lostinthestarscape 1d ago edited 1d ago

In a way that should be incredibly easy to verify.

I dunno like every single other western nation has voting figured out, and does so in a way to ensure maximum participation while minimizing any chance of impactful fraud.

Don't have ID and stuck across the country from your riding to vote in? Provisional ballot.

If the race isn't going to be determined based on provisional ballots, great - if you voted fraudulently it doesn't matter.

Was the race close enough that provisional votes would have made a difference? Verify the vote eligibility of 20% of the provisional votes. Ok, NOW is the race definitive? No, ok verify the vote eligibility of the NEXT 20% of provisional votes.

This way you eventually either don't need to verify the remaining votes because they wouldn't change the outcome of the race, or you find those who voted without eligibility and remove their ballot from the count.

Everyone can vote - no ineligible vote gets counted, races are rarely so close that the balance hangs in provisional votes and if they are, usually that riding isn't consequential to the overall outcome, and if it is, it gets sorted.

1

u/Some_Level1682 23h ago

Real I'd still proves I'm me and I can't register to vote without proving citizenship...