Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the No. 2 House Democrat, slammed the GOP-backed voting bill that the House is set to vote on this week, claiming it was meant to suppress a major Democratic-leaning voting bloc: women.
“This is not about protecting our elections. Republicans are not truly afraid of noncitizens voting, which we all know is already illegal, already grounds for deportation,” Clark said at a press conference, flanked by fellow members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC).
“They’re afraid of women voting,” she added.
The lower chamber is scheduled to vote this week on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act — which proposes requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and valid identification to cast a ballot.
The act, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would require voters to show proof of citizenship, which can be a valid passport; birth certificate; hospital record; a photo ID issued by a federal, state or tribal authority; or a military ID card together with a military record of service.
More than 8 in 10 Americans support requiring all voters to show government-issued photo ID to vote, including more than 7 in 10 Democrats, according to a study conducted last year by the Pew Research Center.
“This bill, the only thing it would do, is prevent illegal aliens and people who are noncitizens from voting in American elections,” Roy said Tuesday in front of the Capitol.
But Clark and other members of the DWC argued otherwise Tuesday. Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (N.M.) said the legislation is “voter suppression, plain and simple” that would make it more difficult for working women to vote.
As of last year, women are 12 percentage points more likely than men to affiliate with the Democratic Party, according to the Pew Research Center.
Leger Fernández also noted that more women than men have been registered to vote in every presidential election year dating back to 1980 and that the SAVE Act “is meant to save Republicans’ electoral butts come November, because their policies are so unpopular.”
One concern raised by Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) at the presser is that not all Americans have a passport. In fact, just more than 53 percent of U.S. citizens have a valid passport as of 2024, according to the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
Republican Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who supports the SAVE Act, said Sunday that those without IDs must be able to get one for free to vote.
“If there’s an individual [who] doesn’t have an ID, there 100 percent needs to be a mechanism for that person to get an ID without a charge,” Steil told host Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”
Balint said the legislation will inevitably make it harder for rural and low-income Americans to vote.
“This serves no one except the men in power, who want to retain their power,” the Vermont Democrat added. “That’s what this is about.”
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Original article HERE.