Dear Sir,
In the face of authoritarianism, people make the difference. Elections matter more than ever. We can hold power accountable.
Donald Trump, with his latest executive orders, and Republicans with the SAVE Act, are attacking elections. They want to suppress votes.
The SAVE Act and the recent executive order would make elections more expensive for states, without new funding. Millions of eligible voters could be blocked from voting.
Requiring in-person presentation of passports and birth certificates to vote or register will have a chilling effect on voters who changed the names from their birth certificate, or who have not needed a passport previously.
The SAVE Act would end voter registration drives, and online registration.
Trump’s executive order is similar to the SAVE Act, requiring voters to prove citizenship in person with specific documents, and seeks to get access to the states’ sensitive voter data bases. One of the benefits of having a state based election system is that our rights are protected by states and by congress. A decentralized system has also made it harder to undermine our election integrity.
The Trump administration’s attack on voter’s rights, on judges, attacks on states’ and congressional power, is all a power grab and cannot be tolerated.
Importantly for Guadalajara Reporter readers, Trump’s executive orders and the SAVE Act will make voters living abroad unable to participate in elections.
You are currently more likely to be hit by lightening than find voter fraud in the United States. It is a crime already, and if you did try to vote as a non-citizen, you would likely gain nothing, you sign your name to the crime, and you risk deportation.
These attacks will affect women disproportionately, because many have changed their last name. They will create friction on many voters’ participation, especially people with disabilities, who live in rural areas, or who cannot afford a passport.
You can make a difference. Writing letters to your friends, editor of your local paper, the Guadalajara Reperter or stateside, and of course calling our representatives is all important.
What are you doing?
Brigit Baur