The Greene County Democrat

Tag: SAVE America Act

  • Newswire: Trump says mail-in voting is ‘corrupt.’ The president voted by mail just days ago.

    Newswire: Trump says mail-in voting is ‘corrupt.’ The president voted by mail just days ago.

    President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced the practice
    of mail-in voting, calling it “corrupt” and a form of “cheating” in
    elections. As recently as Monday, the president characterized
    mail-in voting as “mail-in cheating.”
    However, a Washington Post report reveals that despite
    Trump’s pronouncements against mail-in voting, the president
    recently voted by mail in Tuesday’s special election in Palm
    Beach, Florida.
    The report cites voter records on the Palm Beach County
    Supervisor of Elections website that show Trump voted by mail
    in Palm Beach County, where he resides at his Mar-a-Lago
    estate and beach club outside of the White House. The
    Washington Post report also revealed that Trump has been
    registered to vote in Florida since 2019 and that he mailed his
    ballot at least one other time in 2020.
    The revelation that Trump voted by mail is a clear contradiction
    of his public statements and his big push for Congress to pass
    the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship
    to vote and restrict voting by mail. During a roundtable in
    Memphis on Monday, Trump also falsely claimed that the United
    States is the only country that allows mail-in voting. At least 34
    countries allow voters to mail in their ballots.
    “It’s not surprising that he’s utilizing something he’s waging war
    on. It’s the hypocrisy, but that is what he’s always done,”
    political commentator Reecie Colbert told theGrio.
    Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said President Trump’s
    efforts to end mail-in voting are intended to sow doubt about its
    practice ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, in which his party
    is expected to suffer major losses.
    “It’s clear to me that the president is afraid of people voting, and
    he’s certainly afraid of people exercising their ability to cast a
    vote in disagreement with him, and we’ve seen unlimited
    flirtation and attempts to try to not only rearrange the
    conversation around voting and people participating, but also
    we’ve seen measures trying to go forth to prevent people from
    voting in elections to come,” Seawright told theGrio.
    On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a
    consequential case on the future of mail-in voting, which could
    have repercussions for access to the ballot for Black and Brown
    voters in states where advocates say Republican leaders are
    trying to suppress their vote.
    “I think with Black people, we have to understand the
    assignment. And the known in the equation is that they’re going
    to cheat. The known in the equation is that they’re going to
    suppress our votes. And so what we have to do is we have to
    be the unknown in the equation, which is what we do has to
    exceed what they’re trying to do,” said Colbert.
    The host of Sirius XM’s “The Reecie Colbert Show” told theGrio
    that Republicans are making the “calculation” that their voters
    are higher propensity voters and therefore the “roadblocks”
    placed to deter Black and Brown voters will still result in
    Republicans “going to vote anyway.” She explained, “I don’t
    think that that’s necessarily a smart calculation, but that’s what
    they’re banking on.”
    Colbert added, “We know the table has been set. It’s incumbent
    upon us to make sure that our votes are not disenfranchised.
    And that’s not fair…but those are the cards that were dealt. So
    we have to make sure that we vote out of cheating distance of
    them.”
    Seawright, who advises many national Democratic campaigns,
    said President Trump and Republicans will turn to “unlimited
    measures and attempts to try to silence and suffocate the
    voices” of voters, whether Black or not.
    “At one point in time, some of us thought that it was just African-
    American voices that they wanted to silence and suffocate, and in some cases exterminate. Now, it’s pretty much anyone who may stand in disagreement with the extreme agenda that has come out of this modern-day Republican Party,” said Seawright.
    Colbert pointed out one other irony to the revelation that Trump
    voted by mail in a state that still restricts access to voting for
    convicted felons.
    “Florida has waged war on felons voting, and yet the felon, 34-
    time convicted felon president, still is voting in Florida elections,”
    she said.

  • Newswire : House passes SAVE Act, raising alarms over voter access ahead of midterms

    By Black Information Network (BIN)

    House Republicans narrowly passed the SAVE America Act on Wednesday (February 11), approving sweeping changes to federal election rules in a 218–213 vote. All Republicans supported the bill, while Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar was the only Democrat to vote in favor.
    The legislation would require Americans to provide documentary proof of citizenship — such as a U.S. passport or birth certificate — when registering to vote in federal elections. It would also mandate photo ID nationwide for in-person voting and tighten rules around mail-in ballots.
    Federal law already requires voters to attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury, and election experts have consistently found that noncitizen voting is extremely rare.
    Democrats argue the measure could disenfranchise eligible voters, noting that millions of Americans do not have ready access to citizenship documents and that nearly half of Americans do not hold a valid passport. The bill would also require states to share voter registration data with the Department of Homeland Security to verify citizenship — a provision that has raised privacy concerns among election officials.
    “Let me be clear what this is about: It’s about Republicans trying to rig the next election,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said during a hearing ahead of the floor vote, per the AP. “Republicans are pushing the Save America Act because they want fewer Americans to vote. It’s that simple.”
    The bill now heads to the Senate, where it faces significant hurdles. It would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and several Republican senators — including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have expressed opposition, citing concerns about federal overreach into state-run elections.
    President Donald Trump has publicly backed the legislation, continuing to push claims about election integrity despite no widespread evidence of fraud.
    Its future in the Senate remains uncertain.
    The legislation lands amid President Trump’s continued calls to “nationalize” elections — a move many legal scholars say would conflict with the Constitution’s delegation of election oversight to the states. If the bill were to clear the Senate, it could significantly alter voter registration processes just months before voters head to the polls.