When Kansas implemented its version of the Trump administration’s looming voter-suppression law, it denied at least 31,000 eligible citizens of their constitutional right to vote.
On the national level, it could block tens of millions of Americans from casting a ballot.
That is, of course, exactly what the so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, is intended to do.
Donald Trump himself is on record admitting his belief that allowing all eligible citizens to vote would hurt his party’s chances of winning elections. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted polling data showing that his party is expected to lose control of the Senate this year and claimed the voter suppression bill could “turn this around.”
The president told his political allies earlier this month that his voter-suppression bill would “guarantee” their success not only in this year’s midterm elections but “every election for a long time.”
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In fact, he is so desperate to keep American citizens from voting that he blew up a deal to end chaos at the nation’s airports, holding Transportation Security Administration funding hostage unless the voter suppression bill is passed.
Millions would be sidelined
The bill that passed the House last month and is currently before the Senate would prevent more eligible citizens from registering to vote than any piece of legislation in American history and is more restrictive than the current law in any state except Ohio. Far from a simple “voter ID” bill, it would require specific proof of citizenship to register to vote.
For most Americans, that means either a U.S. passport or a certified birth certificate along with a government-issued photo ID. But more than 21 million Americans don’t have ready access to those documents, and about half of Americans don’t have a passport at all. Not all birth certificates meet t
