Critics say ID bill backed by Trump could make voting tougher in New York

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is in knots over President Donald Trump’s insistence that it approve a controversial voter ID bill before the chamber acts on any other legislative priorities

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, (R-S.D.) has tried to placate Trump by saying he’ll bring the bill — which could severely hinder or even prevent millions of New Yorkers and others nationally from voting — to the floor next week.

But Thune also keeps underscoring that there just aren’t the 60 votes needed to advance the SAVE Act past a Democratic filibuster, because Republicans only control 53 Senate seats. He also says there aren’t enough votes for parliamentary maneuvers such as "nuking" the filibuster.

That does not seem to matter to Trump, who sees the fight over the bill as a chance to put Democrats on the defensive this election season.

"He’s got to be a leader," Trump told reporters Wednesday in a not-so-gentle poke at Thune, calling the SAVE America Act "the most popular bill I’ve ever seen put before Congress."

And no longer is Trump merely demanding the version already passed by the House become law before the midterm elections. He wants to add language to block men or transgender athletes from women’s sports and halt transgender surgical procedures on minors.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — like most other Democrats — has a vastly different view of the bill’s popularity or purpose.

"Donald Trump posted that he will not sign any legislation — no matter how important — until Congress sends him the SAVE Act, a beefed-up SAVE Act at that," Schumer noted in a floor speech. "The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0. It is a voter suppression bill."

Contentious debate

The upshot is an expected marathon of Senate floor debates next week.

Trump will be closely watching who will back the bill he and others argue would boost election security. Trump says the bill will address concerns about illegal voting, including permitting only U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, while opponents say it would be too restrictive and infringe on voting rights.

Among the controversial provisions in the bill’s current iteration are requirements for individuals to present to election officials, in person, documents proving their citizenship, such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or a naturalization certificate, to register to vote.

When a name on a birth certificate doesn’t match the voter’s current name because of marriage, or for other reasons, the applicants for registration would be required submit additional documents that explain the discrepancy.

Those requirements alone could impact millions of New Yorkers, numbers provided by the House Committee on Administration’s top Democrat, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-Rochester), show.

For instance, roughly 28.9% of New Yorkers do not have passports. At a cost of $130 per passport, the SAVE Act could force New Yorkers to pay over $665 million if they need to use a passport to register to vote.

And there is another problem that mostly hits women voters — they are more likely to change their names upon marriage or divorce and would require additional documents to show proof of that name change.

An estimated 3.8 million New York women have a name that does not match their birth certificate, usually because they changed their name upon marriage, according to numbers provided by Administration Committee Democrats.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called the act "anti-democratic."

"New Yorkers should not be forced to jump through unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles just to exercise their fundamental right to vote," Gillibrand said.

Impact on Democrats 

Nationally, there’s evidence the voting requirements in the SAVE Act would impact Democratic voters more than Republicans, a University of Maryland study says.

It said 11% of people of color could lack documented proof of citizenship, which is limited largely by the SAVE Act to birth certificates, U.S. passports, naturalization papers and military and certain government ID’s.

The study also said nearly 9.7 million Democrats, or 10%; and 7.1 million Republicans, or 7%, don’t have easy access to proof of citizenship, as do about 4.6 million, or 14% of people who are unaffiliated with either major party.

The SAVE Act cleared the U.S. House in February on a 218-213 vote, with both of Long Island’s Republican members supporting the measure, and its two Democrats both opposing.