The Multipronged Red-State Attack on Voting Rights

"His principal vehicle has been the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote. Another Trump-inspired proposal, the Make Elections Great Again, or MEGA, Act (so named because these people are in a cult), would ban universal voting by mail. Trump has also turned to his favorite tool, the executive order, to direct the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies, to compile a list of US citizens that the states can use to establish voter eligibility. The order also curtails the use of mail-in voting."

"So far, Trump is closer to taking over Greenland than he is to taking over the federal elections system. His executive order is legally inert; it basically says that citizens, and only citizens, are allowed to vote-which is already a well-established legal principle-and then offers mere suggestions for how states can enforce that principle. The SAVE Act has passed the House of Representatives but is dead in the Senate, where Democrats have filibustered it. The MEGA Act hasn't even passed the Republican-controlled House yet."

"Trump can huff and puff as much as he wants, but he cannot, by executive fiat, blow down the entire structure of federal elections. The states may be a different matter. They can try to pass parts of the SAVE Act, the MEGA Act, and other Trump policies, rigging our elections state by state-which is precisely what some have been doing. Voting Rights Lab, a national nonprofit, has been doggedly keeping track of all these state-level attempts to suppress voting."

Policies aimed at suppressing voting include the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote, and the MEGA Act, which would ban universal voting by mail. An executive order directs federal agencies to compile lists of citizens for states to use in establishing voter eligibility and curtails mail-in voting. Federal action is limited because the executive order is legally inert and because the SAVE Act is dead in the Senate and the MEGA Act has not passed the House. States can still adopt similar measures, and Voting Rights Lab tracks state-level attempts to restrict voting. Several states have already moved forward with such restrictions.

Read at The Nation