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As always, there’s a lot to unpack in the world of elections this week.
Republicans are pushing forward with a new iteration of a proof of citizenship voter bill in yet another attempt to perpetuate the myth that non-citizens are voting en masse in our elections; the DOJ’s ongoing campaign to seize sensitive voter data faces another roadblock; the latest in the (never-ending) redistricting battle; and a look at TPM’s recent coverage of the increasingly bizarre and ominous Fulton County election office FBI raid.
Let’s dig in.
Republicans Are Doubling Down On the Non Citizen Voting Myth. Again.
Republicans are trying to push forward two pieces of legislation — the SAVE America Act and the Make Elections Great Again Act (aka the MEGA Act) — in separate attempts to exert even more control over states’ rights to administer elections and spread lies about the safety of the nation’s decentralized election system.
Most notably, these bills seek to mandate, among other things, documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. As experts told TPM, if implemented, this legislation would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters and further perpetuate the narrative that non-citizens are somehow voting en masse and undetected in our elections. (This is something that is very much not happening! But more on that soon.)
On Wednesday, the House passed the SAVE America Act in a 218-213 vote. The fate of the bill is now in the hands of the Senate. A previous iteration of this bill (aka the SAVE Act) never made it out of the Senate, so it’s unclear what will happen with this new version. President Trump is pressuring Republican Senate leadership to change the rules of the filibuster in order to pass it, a maneuver that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has, at least for now, rebuffed.
Both of these new measures require a passport or birth certificate for voter registration, instead of a driver’s license, which does not indicate citizenship. The most obvious issue is that many eligible voters do not have these documents readily available. In fact, according to research from the Brennan Center, 21.3 million U.S. citizens of voting age do not have documentary proof of citizenship at the ready.
The MEGA Act goes a step further than the SAVE America Act. It also mandates voter roll purges, prohibits states from counting ballots that come in after Election Day, and blocks states from using universal mail-in ballots, to name just a few provisions.
These bills perpetuate the myth that non-citizens are voting in our elections. This is a claim that Republicans have been repeating for years, and it’s not true. It was a particular area of fixation for Republicans ahead of the 2024 election as a way to get ahead of a potential Trump loss as they tried to manufacture a new kind of “voter fraud” hysteria if things did not go their way in that election.
Christine Wood, co-director of Declaration for American Democracy, described both of these measures as being part of “a larger multi-pronged effort to keep Americans from voting.”
“Essentially this is an attempt to rig the rules in their favor by keeping Americans who are eligible voters from the ballot box,” she said.
DOJ Voter File Overreach Faces (Another) Setback
In a major loss for the DOJ’s unprecedented campaign to gain access to sensitive voter information from 44 states, a federal judge has (once again) rejected the department’s attempt to gain access to Michigan’s voter rolls.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou, a Trump appointee, ruled that there “is simply no basis” for the federal government to have access to this information, which includes data like voters’ social security numbers and driver license numbers.
You might be wondering, why is the DOJ demanding this information in the first place and what could they possibly be doing with it? And, the answer is that there’s really no good reason, other than it’s just a way to sow seeds of distrust into our very secure election system as Trump talks of looking at ways to “nationalize voting.”
The federal government is currently suing 24 states who have refused to hand over this information. But it’s not looking great for the DOJ.
In recent months, two other federal courts have dismissed the department’s lawsuits in both Oregon and California. In both these rulings, the courts railed against DOJ. In the Oregon case, the judge said that the department can no longer be taken at its word and, in California, the judge said that the DOJ is trying to interfere with the right to cast a ballot. Sounds right on both fronts.
Around the States: Redistricting
Virgina
This week, the Virginia House approved legislation to advance the state’s Democratic-led redistricting effort.
As a reminder, a county circuit blocked Virginia’s redistricting effort last month. Democrats appealed this ruling to the state court of appeals, which has sent the case to the state Supreme Court.
Pending a decision from the Virginia Supreme Court, the ultimate fate of the amendment will fall into the hands of voters, who will vote on the measure in April.
Maryland
The Maryland House approved a new congressional map earlier this month, but it still faces opposition from the state Senate.
This week, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) sent a letter to Maryland Democrats in the General Assembly, urging them to approve the Democratic-led redistricting proposal.
“… when they [Republicans] make partisan gerrymandering the official redistricting process in America, why would we unilaterally disarm and decline to play by the official rules of the game that they have insisted upon and set and that they are taking advantage of?” he wrote.
“We are facing an existential threat to our government and Constitution that requires a nationwide response,” Raskin said.
TPM’s Latest Reporting On the Bizarre Deets of the Fulton County Raid
Hunter Walker: A Conspiracy Fueled Report Preceded ‘Black Pill’ Tulsi Gabbard’s Fulton County Election Raid
Nicole LaFond: Election Denying ‘Stop the Steal’ Lawyer-Turned-White House Employee Behind Fulton County FBI Raid
Hunter Walker: Meet the ‘Cabal’-Hating ‘Special Government Employee’ Involved in the Fulton County FBI Raid
EDIT: Frist!!
Even WV refused to hand over voter rolls
Home - WV MetroNews
The U.S. Department of Justice has requested detailed voter roll data — including Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers — from states to investigate alleged non-citizen voting.
Kris Warner
West Virginia’s Secretary of State, Kris Warner, said no.
“West Virginians entrust me with their sensitive personal information. Turning it over to the federal government, which is contrary to state law, will simply not happen,” Warner said.
“State law is clear: voter lists are available in a redacted format from my office, but I’ll not be turning over any West Virginian’s protected information.”
The federal government has been seeking full voter registration lists including names, addresses, birthdates, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
I voted in the same polling place from 1980 until I switched to early voting/mail in for the first trump election in 2015. In all those years exactly 6 non-citizens asked about voting on election day at my polling place. They were confused folks, not fraudsters. When informed of the possible penalties these folks were horrified and left. I can speak to this as my neighbors were the pollworkers and loved to tell stories.
It is odd to me that a government that issued me a Social Security number and has tax records of what my retirement benefits are after requiring my number to get started would not know what my Social Security number is. Plus my tax forms when sent in had my return address available. Are we looking at gross incompetence or abject laziness here?
Yes.