President Donald Trump has mastered many an art in his five years in the White House. But the distinguishing feature unique to his second term is his gift for forcing his enemies to adopt policy positions that are largely anathema to the American people. And the issue of voter ID is the latest. The SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) is a proposed law passed by the House and pending in the Senate that would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require "documentary proof of United States citizenship" in order to register to vote.
Voter ID as Republican Racism – and Sexism
Many black Americans have long been insulted by the left’s long-standing, typically paternalistic argument that requiring voter ID is racist because it will disenfranchise black people who presumably are not smart or resourceful enough to obtain a state-issued ID. But Democrats cannot even make that flimsy race-based argument anymore after they employed a full-court press on the issue in Georgia, where a supposedly racist voting law was passed in 2021. In the next statewide election, turnout increased across the board, forcing the left to largely vacate its racialist position and move on to even flimsier talking points.
So now, stripped of the ability to play the race card effectively, some leftists are arguing with a straight face that the SAVE Act is actually sexist. Prominent progressive Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) cites the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, and asserts that newly married women who have adopted their husband’s name or people who have changed genders and not yet updated their state ID could be denied the right to vote. That is, to say the least, weak sauce. Individual states across the land have long since made accommodations for married women changing their names after the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
This is just the latest iteration of Trump’s embrace of the so-called 80-20 issues supported by an overwhelming majority of the American people. Whether they involve illegal immigration, cutting taxes, cracking down on crime, shrinking government, shuttering USAID, supporting Israel, transgender rights, and school choice, among other issues, Trump has mastered the art of political jiu-jitsu, forcing the left to embrace wildly unpopular positions. The latest survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that a whopping 83% of the country supports the requirement to show a state-issued ID in order to vote. That includes 76% of black voters, 82% of Latinos, 85% of whites, and, most notably, 71% of Democrats.
After the 2020 pandemic election turned into a debacle because of voting laws altered midstream and a deluge of unsolicited mail-in ballots, Georgia took hold of the issue with new election laws in 2021, making it easier to vote and harder to cheat. The law expanded early voting and replaced signature match with more reliable voter ID for mail ballots, such as a driver’s license or state ID number, a Social Security number, or documents such as utility bills for those without any other options. And, importantly, the new law restricted the use of private funding for the administration of elections, after Mark Zuckerberg and others poured a massive amount of money into left-leaning local election boards nationwide in 2020.
Most Republicans continue to question Joe Biden’s victory – and record 81 million votes – that year, and for good reason. In addition to the new pandemic-induced voting laws, the avalanche of mail-in ballots, and unmanned drop boxes, more than 1,000 sworn affidavits from poll workers in swing states alleging misconduct during ballot counting were rejected by the courts.
The Real Reason for Demonizing the SAVE Act
There is panic among leftists about the SAVE Act for two reasons: First, it might well cost them votes, and, second, it leaves the glaring impression that they have something to hide. The obvious question asked by ordinary Americans is why there is even an argument about the need to show a state-issued ID to vote. It is required to land a job, cash a check, enter a courthouse, board an airliner, or even check a book out of the library. Should it really not be necessary to prove you are eligible to vote in elections? Since racism is no longer a legitimate rallying cry and the sexism argument is absurd on its face, putting their thumbs on the scale seems to be the only remaining motive.
Embattled Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has become exceedingly unpopular among his fellow travelers on the left, is trying to recapture credibility with his base by sounding militant on the subject, re-racking the same tired argument with a recent post on X: “The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise millions of Americans. Every single Senate Democrat will vote against any bill that contains it.” Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA), in asserting that it costs money to obtain IDs that some voters may not be able to afford, goes full retro when claiming in The Hill, “The SAVE Act puts barriers on American citizens voting and actually is a modern poll tax.” But the reality is that most states already offer low-cost IDs in multiple forms for those without them.
In an amusing irony, the progressive anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis, who clearly oppose voter ID laws, formed their own barriers and checkpoints, demanding an ID from anyone hoping to pass. And, as pointed out by the crack legal analyst Jonathan Turley, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is requiring people to show an ID to attend his campaign events after opposing an ID requirement to vote. So if you want to hear Ossoff speak against voter ID, you will have to show your ID.
Perhaps the answer for the president and his Republican colleagues would be to drop their support for the SAVE Act. Since Democrats automatically oppose anything and everything Trump does and says, maybe they would then favor voter ID laws. But seriously, what kind of statement does it make for a party approaching midterm elections with its lowest approval rating of the 21st century to oppose election integrity by pretending voting irregularities are nothing more than a figment of the GOP’s imagination?
