Elissa Slotkin said the SAVE America Act would make it “hard for any Democrat in any state to win any election” after the Senate rejected the bill 50-48. She made the remarks on June 6 to Indiana's state Democratic Party, where she also said the measure would let the Trump administration “rig our democracy.”
June 6 in Indiana
The comments came a day after the Senate vote. Four Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill, which fell short in June after months of Republican pressure to pass it.
Slotkin did not explain how the legislation would hurt Democratic politicians, but the bill itself would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot in federal elections.
Trump and the SAVE fight
Donald Trump has argued for months that Democrats oppose the SAVE America Act because it would make it harder to cheat in elections. During his Feb. 24 State of the Union address, he said Democrats oppose voter ID because “the only way they can get elected is to cheat.”
He also said, “And the reason they don't want to do it — why would anybody not want voter ID? One reason: Because they want to cheat. There's only one reason. They make up all excuses,” and, “They say, 'It's racist.' They come up with things — you almost say, 'What imagination they have.' They want to cheat, they have cheated and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat, and we're going to stop it.”
Voting rules and women
The SAVE America Act also mandates that states take additional steps to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. The Center for Election Innovation & Research has found that voter registration of noncitizens is rare.
Slotkin also said the bill would make it more difficult for married women to vote, saying a woman would have to show her birth certificate at the polls. Critics of the bill argue that requirement could create additional hurdles for some married women who changed their last names after marriage.
The dispute now centers on how the bill would work in practice if it comes up again. The public fight has already split the debate between Slotkin's warning about access and Trump's argument that voter ID is needed to stop fraud.
