#SAVE Act

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:

On August 20, a little before dawn, 87 year-old Lidia Martinez was abruptly jarred awake by an unexpected knock on her door. The longtime activist who for over 35 years has worked to expand voter registration among seniors and veterans in south Texas, cautiously peered out the door. Standing on her doorstep were nine police officers dressed in tactical gear and carrying firearms. After showing her a search warrant, Martinez’s home was searched as she was forced to stand outside in her nightgown in her driveway in full view of her neighbors. Martinez was later questioned for three hours after which the police seized her phone, computer, personal calendar and more.

[...]

These bad faith searches orchestrated by Paxton were predicated on the claim that the people being investigated were registering non-citizens to vote—despite zero evidence presented of wrongdoing. Very alarmingly, if Donald Trump and House GOP have their way, these types of raids would be happening nationwide with federal law enforcement under a GOP President.  That is why GOP House Speaker Johnson is now demanding the proposed SAVE Act be included in any deal to provide funding to keep the government open.

To be clear, federal and state law already makes it a crime for non-citizens to vote. But this new federal legislation would establish criminal penalties for registering an applicant to vote in a federal election who fails to present documentation proving U.S. citizenship.  That means that what we are seeing in Texas is coming attractions of what the GOP wants to do nationally.

Keep in mind despite Texas AG Paxton’s two year investigation, no charges  have been filed against any of the people whose homes were searched.  Indeed, there may never be charges because even Paxton’s basis for the search is BS. In his press release announcing the investigation, the Texas AG presents no evidence of wrongdoing. Instead, Paxton makes baseless claims like these organizations have set up voter registration booths outside state agencies where people could register inside. Paxton’s press release literally includes this question with no answer: “Why would they need a second opportunity to register with a booth outside?” But nowhere in his press release does he even allege any criminal conduct—only questions.

And Paxton—a close ally of convicted felon Trump—showed his bad faith earlier in August on a radio show when he peddled lies about non-citizens voting. Paxton declared, “There’s a reason Joe Biden brought people here illegally. I’m convinced that that’s how they’re going to do it this time, they’re going to use the illegal vote. Why were they brought in, why did he bring in 14 million people?” adding, “He brought them here to vote.”   That is nothing more than the type of BS you hear on Fox News. But now Paxton has weaponized government by targeting people registering those he believes will vote for Democrats. The backlash to Paxton’s actions have been swift. LULAC requested that the Department of  Justice investigate Paxton's office for Voting Rights Act violations. LULAC CEO Juan Proaño and the group's national president, Roman Palomares, summed up well what is really going in their letter to the DOJ: "These actions echo a troubling history of voter suppression and intimidation that has long targeted both Black and Latino communities, particularly in states like Texas, where demographic changes have increasingly shifted the political landscape.”

The Texas GOPs voter intimidation tactics are based on the faux outrage campaign against noncitizen voting.

[dosesofcommonsense]

[lasseling]

#TRUMP on Truth Social

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Mike Johnson Withdraws Government Funding Bill, Which Includes SAVE Act Just Hours Before Scheduled Vote

But the reality is that Johnson and his ilk have no intention of “getting there.”

Instead, they are content with playing politics and continuing the endless cycle of appeasement that has defined the GOP establishment for far too long.

Despite the clear urgency from Trump and his supporters, Johnson pulled his six-month stopgap funding plan after it became clear that opposition from both Democrats and a handful of spineless Republicans would derail the bill. At least eight House Republicans have already come out against the bill, all but ensuring its failure, according to CNN.

“No vote today,” Johnson told reporters, signaling yet another defeat for conservatives hoping for real change in Washington.

“We are having thoughtful conversations, family conversations within the Republican Conference and I believe we will get there,” he added.

“I want any member of Congress in either party to explain to the American people why we should not ensure that only US citizens are voting in US elections … It’s the most pressing issue right now, and we’re going to get this job done.”

But the reality is that Johnson and his ilk have no intention of “getting there.”

Instead, they are content with playing politics and continuing the endless cycle of appeasement that has defined the GOP establishment for far too long.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), one of the few voices still willing to speak truth to power, blasted Johnson and GOP leadership on Tuesday for orchestrating what she called a “fake fight” in Washington.

Greene rightly pointed out that the RINOs had no real intention of seeing this bill through and were more interested in appeasing their left-wing colleagues than standing up for the American people.

"The worst thing that Republicans in the House can do is create a fake fight that the base knows they’re lying about and frustrate our voters going in on November fifth,” Greene said. “That’s how you lose the House of Representatives,” Greene said.

“Just be honest. If [Johnson] already aligned himself with the Democrats back in May, did a two-part omnibus, just be honest and do what he’s going to do. But don’t have Conservatives like me that actually care about reducing our spending, that actually care about making changes, that actually care about doing the right thing for the American people, don’t make people like me go out and pretend like we’re fighting for something, because I’m not going to have any part of it.”

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

July 26, 2024

One group said it has registered over 100,000 new voters since U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.

The group behind a popular get-out-the-vote technology platform said Friday that it's registered more than 100,000 new U.S. voters since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, a surge that came amid mounting Republican efforts to make it harder to register and vote.

Vote.org said that 84% of voters registered in the new wave are under age 35. Nearly 1 in 5 new registrees is 18 years old. Andrea Hailey, the group's CEO, said that "since 2020, we have led the largest voter registration drive in U.S. history," with more than 7.8 million people registered.

After dropping out, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to face former Republican President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in the November election. The new presumptive Democratic candidate has already earned endorsements from many Democrats in Congress and groups advocating on issues including climate, labor, and reproductive rights.

Vote.org's success comes as Republicans at the federal level are proposing and passing legislation creating obstacles to the ballot box.

Earlier this month, U.S. House Republicans passed Rep. Chip Roy's (R-Texas) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of American citizenship to vote in federal elections. Republicans claim the bill is meant to fix the virtually nonexistent "problem" of noncitizen voter fraud.

However, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) slammed the bill as a "xenophobic attack" meant to silence "Black voices, brown voices, LBGTQIA+ voices, [and] young voices."

Lee said the SAVE Act underscores the need to pass her recently introduced Right to Vote Act, "which would establish the first-ever affirmative federal voting rights guarantee, ensuring every citizen may exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot."

Earlier this year, U.S. Senate Democrats also reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation its sponsors say will "update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act."

Meanwhile, Republican-controlled state legislatures and red-state governors are enacting laws imposing tough restrictions on voter registration, with violations punishable by stiff fines that critics say are meant to dissuade people from registration drives and similar efforts.

Again under the guise of preventing fraud, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year signed legislation limiting voter registration drives, with fines of up to $250,000 for violators.

"These draconian laws and rules are like taking a sledgehammer to hit a flea," Cecile Scoon, an attorney and president of the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters, toldThe New York Times in an article published Friday.

Three years after Kansas passed a law making "false representation" of an election official a crime, campaigners say it's become extremely difficult to sign up new voters.

"In 2020, even with the pandemic, we had registered nearly 10,000 Kansans to vote. Now, we haven't been able to register anyone," Davis Hammet, president of the youth voter mobilization group Loud Light, told the Times.

In Louisiana, Republican state lawmakers quietly passed legislation making it easier for election officials to toss out absentee ballots with missing details, limiting how people can mail in other voters' ballots, and restricting the ability to assist people with disabilities with their ballots.

"What we've found is that these measures have a disproportionate impact on voters with disabilities, both Black and white," NAACP Legal Defense Fund senior policy counsel Jared Evans toldNola.com earlier this week.

"It's clear that their goal is to make it harder to vote, harder for specific communities to vote especially," Evans added. "What they don't realize is that these laws hurt white voters, too."

In Nebraska, Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen last week ordered county election offices to stop registering voters with past felony convictions who have not received official pardons. The move came after the state's unicameral Legislature passed a bill granting voting eligibility to felons immediately after they have completed their sentences instead of waiting two years.

"We refuse to accept thousands of Nebraskans having their voting rights stripped away," ACLU of Nebraska legal and policy fellow Jane Seu said in a statement. "We are confident in the constitutionality of these laws, and we are exploring every option to ensure that Nebraskans who have done their time can vote."

[aqlstar]

Yes the SAVE act is a hot mess, no it would not ban married women from voting.

One of the acceptable forms of ID it lists is real-ID documentation (which is weird, because you don’t have to be a citizen to get a real ID, but whatever).

You do not need to show your birth certificate to get real ID if you have two other forms of identification. If you want to use your birth certificate as a form of ID, and there’s been a name change- you just need legal proof of name change.

Is it a pain in the ass? Yes. But it’s totally possible.

I would predict that republicans would be screwing themselves over by passing the SAVE act because their voting base (which trends older and less cosmopolitan) seems less likely to have a valid passport.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Arthur Delaney and Jonathan Nicholson at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has attached a bill aimed at keeping non-citizens from voting in federal elections to a must-pass government funding bill set for a vote this week. It’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, but Republicans want to amplify former president Donald Trump’s lies that Democrats are using illegal voters to steal the 2024 election from him. Johnson has been stoking voter fraud fears for months, insinuating in press conferences and news articles, without evidence, that millions of undocumented immigrants will steal the election from Trump.

“The threat is very real,” Johnson wrote last month in an opinion piece for Fox News, noting that noncitizens can walk into their local department of motor vehicles and fill out a registration form. “That noncitizen can then cast a ballot and help decide the direction of America.” Available evidence suggests noncitizens generally don’t cast ballots, partly because voter registration forms warn it’s a crime to do so. When Trump created a commission to investigate his own claims that as many as 5 million illegal ballots were cast in the 2016 election, investigators failed to find the fraud and the commission disbanded. Trump didn’t have any luck substantiating fraud claims from 2020 either, though he said on his website over the weekend that when he wins in November, “those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.”

[...] Trump, for his part, said Republicans should “shut down the government in a heartbeat” if the funding measure doesn’t include the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the Republican election bill. Trump’s lies about the outcome of the 2020 election, which he lost but claimed was subject to widespread fraud, motivated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters. While the prospect of a deadlock over the citizen voter issue could delay the bill to keep the government open after Sept. 30, in reality it is unlikely to block it. During his term, Trump urged Republicans on Capitol Hill to shut the government down several times only to cave before it actually came to that. Both parties would see a shutdown so close to the November presidential election as such an unpredictable political wild card it should be avoided.

House Republicans attach the SAVE Act into a must-pass bill for government spending to prevent a shutdown.

The SAVE Act is performative right-wing nonsense about the faux crisis of “noncitizens voting”, as noncitizens are already barred from voting in federal elections.

See Also:

Daily Kos: House Republicans are back—and holding the government hostage

[govtshutdown]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4870403-government-funding-senate-republicans/

Senate GOP gave Johnson until today to have a CR passed. Will they follow up on their threat to pass a clean CR?

[lasseling]

BREAKING: Biden Admin Comes Out Against Bill to Stop Illegal Aliens Voting in U.S Elections

Biden administration has just issued a statement to directly oppose a bill that seeks to stop illegal aliens from voting in American elections

[head-post]

House rejects temporary funding bill to avoid government shutdown

The House declined Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal to tie temporary funding for the federal government to a mandate that states require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, according to AP News.

Next steps for government funding remain uncertain. Lawmakers face difficulty in finalising the dozen annual appropriations bills funding federal agencies over the next fiscal year. They will need to approve a temporary measure to avert a partial shutdown when the fiscal year begins on 1 October.

We’ll draw up another play and we’ll come up with a solution. I’m already talking to colleague about their many ideas. We have time to fix the situation and we’ll get right to it.

Johnson withdrew the bill from consideration last week as it lacked the votes to pass.

Requiring new voters to provide proof of citizenship has been a top Republican priority on the campaign trail. However, critics argue the requirement would disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have a birth certificate or passport at hand.

But Johnson said it was a serious issue, since even a tiny percentage of non-citizens could determine the outcome of an extremely close race. He noted that Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa won the seat back in 2020 by a margin of six votes.

It’s very, very serious stuff and that’s why we’re going to do the right thing. We’re going to responsibly fund the government and we’re going to stop noncitizens voting in elections.

House Democrats argued that a proof-of-citizenship requirement should not be part of a bill to fund the government and urged Johnson to work with them on a measure capable of passing both chambers. Pete Aguilar stated:

[The SAVE Act] is not going to become law. This is Republican theatrics that are meant to appease the most extreme members of their conference, to show them that they are working on something and that they’re continuing to support the former president of the United States in his bid to demonise immigrants.

SAVE Act

The bill would fund agencies generally at current levels through 28 March while lawmakers settle their disagreements on a full-year spending agreement. However, Democrats and some Republicans are pushing for a shorter delay. A temporary solution would allow the current Congress to craft a final bill after the election and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

However, Johnson and some of the more conservative members of his conference are pushing for a six-month extension in the hope that Trump would win and give them more leverage in crafting a year-long bill. Meanwhile, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to offer an opinion on how long to extend the funding.

The one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election because certainly we would get the blame.

The House approved a bill with a citizenship verification mandate back in July. Some Republicans who see the issue as popular with their constituents, pushing for another chance to show their support.

Read more HERE

[tom4jc]

Communism On The Ballot 2024 (guest post)

This is an article by Gary, president and co-founder of Kingdom Winds and Kingdom Winds Collective, that looks at communism in America. OPINION – As the United States of America races towards November, it becomes increasingly clearer each day that the 2024 Presidential election will be the most consequential in our lifetime and probably in our nation’s history. Among the myriad of critical…

[freshfocusnews]

On July 10, 2024, the SAVE ACT, Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, cleared the House Chamber with a 221-198 vote. Only 5 Democrats voted with the 216 Republicans, which in my opinion, should have been a bipartisan vote clearing the House Chamber with a unanimous vote.

Before we move on to discuss more precise topics of what the SAVE ACT aims to do and how it closes loopholes in the current process, I wanted to take a few moments to acknowledge the 5 Democratic Congress members, that went against their own party and voted to restore fair and secure elections by requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, so the American people can trust the election system with the known issues and problems that have been occurring and reported on a regular basis leading up to quite arguably the most important election of our lifetimes.

I do not know their reasons behind why they chose to vote against their party, but either way, it gives me hope that at least there are five Democrats that consider this a non-partisan issue. There should be some shared values between party lines. Having different views on certain issues can be healthy to explore different angles and perspectives. But as far as core values, shared between all parties, there should be more of them on the important issues with morality at the root of the issue being debated. And this is just one of those examples. I wish more would have joined them on such an important issue.

Also, I should mention that the common response as to why most Democrats have voted against this bill, is that requiring proof of citizenship would somehow disenfranchise marginalized groups of voters that may have issues obtaining these types of documents. This is simply not a valid reason, which I will go into more detail later in this article. With that said, knowing that the Democrats are using an invalid reason for not wanting to secure our election process; this begs the question, why do they not want to secure our election process so that Americans can trust the results?

For those of you that want to read the actual House Bill H.R. 8281 SAVE ACT, the link is below. 👇👇👇👇👇👇

For those of you that would like a more concise summary of the 22 page document, you can go to my summary here: 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

But here is the gist of it in a nutshell.

1.) The SAVE ACT requires all states to have a process in place to check individuals that are going through the process of getting a driver's license, state ID, applying for Medicare/Medicaid services, or at any other governrnment office covered under the NVRA(National Voters Registration Act) of 1993 as a place to be able to registster to vote, to validate with acceptable documentation, outlined in those links above (👆👆👆), to prove their citizenship status before being registered to vote.

2.) The SAVE ACT also requires that states have a process to check the validity of current individuals on voter registration rolls as valid US citizens and those identified as needing further validation be notified with an official communication with instructions about what is needed to validate citizenship and informing those that have already registered and those in the process of registering of the criminal penalties for knowingly providing false information to the government. There is also a required process in this program to purge non-citizens from voter registration rolls until documentary evidence that can prove citizenship is received before being placed back onto voter rolls.

3.) There is a component of the SAVE ACT, that aims to streamline the citizenship status verification process by intergovernmental agencies and data sharing. The approved verification sources are as follows;

A.) Department of Homeland Security using Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE)

B.) Social Security Administration through the use of Social security # verification service

C.) State agencies that supply State ID cards, Drivers Licenses in which the agency confirms the citizenship status of its applicants.

D.) Other sources, including databases that have the ability to confirm citizenship status.

4.) It should also be noted that an expansion with a few amendments to the NVRA of 1993, is that each state must maintain a program called the Election Assisistance Commission, which is a program that aims to help Americans that may need assistance with the process of navigating the process of obtaining proof of citizenship for the purpose of registering to vote. Further, the SAVE ACT, does allow for a pathway for those Americans that are without documentation or proof of citizenship that involve some alternate methods and an Affidavit process that a committee may approve using a case by case basis.

So, when I mentioned earlier, the common reason that many Democrats give about disenfranchising marginalized groups from being able to vote, I simply cannot see how this is a valid reason, given the requirement of Election Assisistance Commission State Programs. That along with alternate document pathways to voter registration with the Affidavit process, I don't see this being an issue.

But here are just a few issues in the news that show the integrity of our elections are in question:

1.) 👇👇👇

2.) 👇👇👇👇👇

3.) 👇👇👇👇👇

I could go on, much further with more news stories, but there are many more. Some claim there is no problem. But there obviously is a problem, with this large loophole in the process with no oversight. I will ask the question again; why don't more of our Democratic lawmakers want to close this loophole so Americans can feel that we have a fair and secure election system?

Unfortunately, even though the SAVE ACT cleared the House, I highly doubt Chuck Schumer will even let the Senate take a vote on it. Plus, Biden has already stated he will veto the bill.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

[cattnipt]

insert image of binghe character playlist by shen yuan with wolf in sheep's clothing in it

[chloesimaginationthings]

"Oswald's mom has got it going on" - FNAF Pit bonnie

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

After some very eventful weeks of Jason’s debut as the Red Hood he takes a well deserved night off and decides to crash in one of his safe houses.

He did not count on one of the Bats finding him there.

So to keep his plans from being torpedoed entirely Jason goes with the split second decision of pretending he was held captive by the Red Hood.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

Special counsel Jack Smith alleged in a recently unsealed filing that as part of their 2020 election subversion conspiracy, Donald Trump and his allies entirely fabricated their claims about noncitizens voting. Similar lies are at the heart of right-wing media’s current efforts to undermine the 2024 vote in the lead-up to November’s presidential election. 

Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax together aired at least 141 claims fearmongering about noncitizens voting in the 2024 elections over the last month, according to a Media Matters review. Smith writes that at Trump’s federal criminal trial for his attempt to subvert the election, the government will demonstrate that Trump and his alleged co-conspirators “repeatedly changed the numbers in their baseless fraud allegations” and thus their “lies were proved by the fact that they made up figures from whole cloth.” 

[...]

Noncitizen voting is illegal in federal elections and vanishingly rare, and there is no evidence of large numbers of undocumented immigrants registering to cast ballots.  That has not stopped generations of conservatives from baselessly stoking fears about Democrats using the votes of noncitizens to win elections — and that right-wing propaganda campaign has dramatically escalated this election cycle. 

Trump’s media propagandists followed his lead

Trump and his allies largely focused on dishonestly attacking mail-in voting as a purported vector for fraud in 2020. This year, they’ve downplayed those concerns as the GOP built its own mail-in voting campaign.  Instead, Trump is warning that an avalanche of noncitizen votes could swing the race as he tries to undermine confidence in the election results. He declared at last month’s presidential debate that there are “illegal immigrants coming” and “they’re trying to get them to vote,” echoing a version of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that was once limited to white nationalist fever swamps but is now part of the GOP dogma. He also urged congressional Republicans to pass the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” or SAVE Act — unnecessary legislation for a fake problem. Media Matters reviewed coverage on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax between September 6, when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unveiled a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown that included the text of the SAVE Act, through October 2.

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recently unsealed filing revealed that Donald Trump was pushing the phony baloney “noncitizen voting” claims in the 2020 elections. Trump and the right-wing media are on the same course to repeat their lies about “noncitizens voting”.

See Also:

MMFA: Jack Smith's unsealed Trump filing laid out key 2020 election lies. Fox News pushed many of them.