The SAVE Act, which the House approved with only four Democratic votes, is now stalled in the Senate, where it’s described by Democrats as "Jim Crow 2.0."
But that description insults not just today's American voters, but also the memory of post-Civil War Southern Blacks, who were denied the vote because of actual Jim Crow laws.
The SAVE Act, or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, would apply to all federal elections and require:
- Documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration.
- In-person presentation of documents in most cases.
- States to maintain voter rolls, remove those who die or move out of the district.
In addition, Republican lawmakers introduced the SAVE America Act that adds a photo ID requirement at the polls when voting in federal elections.
These are common sense proposals designed to make it easy to vote, but difficult to cheat.
A Gallup poll taken a few weeks before the 2024 presidential election revealed that 83% of U.S. adults favor laws that require proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time, and 84% favor photo identification requirements at the polls when voting.
Despite the overwhelming approval, Congressional Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to block the bills, calling them "Jim Crow 2.0," a claim that even legacy media questions.
On Sunday, ABC's Jonathan Karl asked Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., if he would support a nationwide photo ID requirement, given that a recent Pew poll found that 83% of adults — including 71% of Democrats — favor such laws.
Schiff dismissed photo ID's popular approval, and called it voter suppression — an insult to the voters who pay his salary and overwhelmingly support the proposal.
Last week Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appeared on MS NOW's "Morning Joe" to address the same issue.
"What they're trying to do here is the same thing that was done in the South for decades to prevent people of color from voting," Schumer said.
That's an insult to people of color, by implying that they might be incapable of presenting photo ID, something pretty much universally held by U.S. adults.
But the insults weren't over.
"For instance, if you're a woman who got married and changed your last name, you won't be able to show ID and you’ll be discriminated against," he claimed.
"If you can’t find a birth certificate or a proper ID, you'll be discriminated against."
So now women are incapable of presenting a marriage certificate to account for the name change?
Both instances exhibit the "soft bigotry of low expectations," an insult to their intellect.
But more than that, calling photo ID laws "Jim Crow 2.0" insults the freed slaves who were actually subjected to Jim Crow laws.
After the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, prohibiting federal and state governments from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, many Democratic-run Southern states passed workarounds.
Those workarounds, known as Jim Crow laws, included:
- Poll Taxes: Where voters had to pay a fee equivalent to several days' wages for many Black workers in order to register or vote.
- Literacy Tests: Where applicants had to read and interpret complex sections of the state constitution or other legal documents to the satisfaction of white registrars.
- Property Ownership: Some states made property ownership a requirement to become a registered voter, which eliminated most Blacks.
- Grandfather Clauses: If a voter couldn’t meet literacy or property requirements, they could still vote if their father or grandfather had been eligible to vote pre-15th Amendment, which exempted most white men while excluding nearly all Blacks.
- All-White Primaries: The Democratic Party restricted primary elections to white voters only. Because the Democratic primary was effectively the decisive election in the one-party South, excluding Black voters from primaries rendered their general election votes nearly meaningless.
Comparing photo ID and proof of citizenship requirements to the Democratic Party's own Jim Crow laws is laughable, and a slap in the face to what emancipated slaves went through to exercise a fundamental right.
Moreover, many developing countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Pakistan, require photo ID to vote.
As it stands now, the SAVE Act, and its companion SAVE America Act, are dead in the Senate because they can't meet the 60-vote threshold to close debate and actually vote on the measures.
Here's an idea. Why can't Republicans call for votes on these measures every two weeks, and then publish the names of the Senate Democrats who voted no?
Democrats may get tired of being called out for rejecting proposals that have such overwhelming support — especially with midterms coming up in November.
Show America who Democrats really are, and let's finally secure our elections — just like Nigeria.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read more Michael Dorstewitz Insider articles — Click Here Now.
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