Desperate to block the SAVE America Act — a measure that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering and present photo ID at the ballot box — Democrats have increasingly turned to fearmongering.
Their arguments tend to involve some variation of the following: most Americans, they claim, don’t have ready access to documents like a birth certificate; voters would be forced to obtain a passport — an expensive and time-consuming process that many cannot afford; and the burden would fall especially hard on married women whose names have changed, requiring additional paperwork such as marriage licenses.
On Tuesday morning’s Morning Joe on MS NOW, Joe Scarborough argued that because his co-host and wife, Mika Brzezinski, can’t find her original birth certificate, she would be kicked off the voter rolls under the SAVE Act. I can’t help but wonder if Brzezinski has a passport.
In the X post below, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who introduced this legislation, called out his Senate colleague, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who called the measure a “modern-day poll tax.”
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who inexplicably still calls herself a Republican, also opposes the SAVE Act. She claims that the remoteness of much of her state would make the requirement especially onerous, forcing residents to travel great distances, miss work, and even arrange childcare simply to obtain the necessary documents.
Moreover, Democrats insist the law is unnecessary, maintaining that noncitizens do not vote in federal elections. When presented with evidence to the contrary, they dismiss such cases as exceedingly rare. And they quickly pivot to a broader question: why focus on this issue at all, they ask, instead of addressing concerns like affordability that weigh more heavily on American families?
The managing editor of Twitchy, who posts on X under the handle @PolitiBunny, wasn’t buying the hype. She set out to test whether obtaining copies of her birth certificate, social security card, and marriage license was truly as difficult and costly as Democrats claim.
In the post below, she breaks down how she obtained the documents and how little it cost.
1. Birth certificate: Contacted the health department of the county where I was born. They OVERNIGHTED a certified copy to me the next day – total cost, $14.2. SS Card: Contacted Social Security on their site. They asked if I was sure I needed the card, since I ‘won’t likely be asked for it.’ I went ahead and got it – took five business days to arrive – total cost, $0.3. Marriage License: Went to the ‘vital docs’ site of the county where we were hitched. Filled everything out online, arrived in three days – total cost, $5.
She spent $19 and received “all three certified/legal documents” within five business days. She notes that if she currently lived in the town where she was born or married, “it would have been a day. Tops.”
She concludes, “Anyone telling you this is too hard or unfair is lying and hiding the real reason they want to stop Voter ID.”
Citizenship verification, voter ID requirements, and cleaning up voter registration rolls should not be controversial. Every American has a stake in ensuring that only eligible citizens cast ballots. Each time a non-citizen votes, a lawful citizen is disenfranchised.
Clearly there is only one reason for the fierce opposition to this simple bill: it would make cheating in elections far more difficult.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY