Editorial: Trump's SAVE Act Is Dead Good Riddance

According to THE HILL, the SAVE Act has been dropped from Speaker Johnson’s stopgap funding proposal to fund the government beyond September 30th. 

The SAVE Act, supported by former President Donald Trump, and Congressman LaLota, is an attempt to force fourteen states (and Washington DC), including New York, to require voters to show ID before they may cast an in-person vote. Thirty-six states currently require an ID to vote. Proponents of the SAVE Act declared that this was a way to prevent ineligible people from voting.

The Brennan Center For Justice (BC), Cato Institute, and the League of Women Voters concur that illegal voting is almost nonexistent. According to BC, noncitizen votes accounted for just 0.0001 percent of those cast. The Libertarian Cato Institute has an article, “Noncitizens don’t illegally vote in detectable numbers.”  The League of Women Voters has a blog page, “What’s So Bad About Voter ID Laws,” discussing the history of  disenfranchising voters.  All three organizations highlight that illegal voting is infrequent and the remedy, a voter ID requirement, has significant negative impacts. 

According to the LWV, “Not only are voter photo ID laws ineffective as means of combating voter fraud, but their main impact is that they promote voter suppression.” And, “The negative impact of strict voter ID laws is not limited to Black Americans; other marginalized populations also face disproportionate barriers to voting because of these laws. Native American communities, low-income, elderly, and rural voters are disproportionately affected by voter photo ID laws.”

On July 8th, Congressman LaLota posted on his FB page, “The SAVE Act, authored by Congressman Chip Roy, helps make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in our elections by requiring Voter ID and citizenship for our elections. The bill has my full support.”

Congressman LaLota, a former commissioner at the Suffolk County Board of Elections, never alluded to any problems with the integrity of our voting system during his tenure. Surely, if he had been aware of the issues, he would have intervened or advocated for improvements. 

Before changing the way we vote we need to consider the ramifications for the older adult or anyone who forgets their ID in the car or at home. Will they be willing to leave the polls and return to vote? What about the college student who resides outside the district? Will they be required to have a unique ID? Can you imagine the beleaguered poll worker who challenges a voter in Smithtown or challenges the validity of a license that had been washed with the laundry?

Everyone is required to present an ID when they register to vote, the system works. The proposal for national voter ID legislation seems to solve a nonexistent problem. 

No one wants illegal voting and it seems that this is something the governnment has gotten right because every legitimate study shows that illegal voting is negligible. Congressman LaLota must explain to his constituents why he believes we need to change our system. This is a good example of legislative overeach.

Pat