Republican Party
Republicans want to tie proof-of-citizenship voter requirement to stopgap funding
By Joe Fisher
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a bill that would require certain proof-of-citizenship documentation to register to vote. Lawmakers are considering attaching the bill to stopgap funding for the federal government. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 6 (UPI) — Lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill Monday and Republicans are pushing for new voter registration requirements that would require providing certain proof-of-citizenship documentation.
They are also discussing attaching the bill, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, to stopgap funding meant to stave off a government shutdown.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced the bill, alleging that non-citizens are improperly registering to vote across the country. Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have often touted a conspiracy theory that immigrants are being shuttled into the United States to vote illegally throughout this election year.
“Secure elections are a key cornerstone for any representative government; without them, we won’t have a country. Radical progressive Democrats know this and are using open border policies while also attacking election integrity laws to fundamentally remake America,” Roy said in a statement. “That’s why I am proud to introduce the SAVE Act with Speaker Johnson and my Republican colleagues, along with the invaluable support of citizens and organizations that recognize we must end the practice of non-citizens voting in our elections.”
The bill passed the House in July and has been placed on the legislative calendar in the Senate.
Non-citizen voting is a rare occurrence that often happens by mistake, according to Michelle Kanter Cohen, policy director and senior counsel for the Fair Elections Center. Kanter Cohen told UPI that the penalties in place are already enough of a deterrent to stop non-citizens from attempting to vote. Penalties include prison time and deportation.
If the bill were to pass, potential voters would need to provide identification that is compliant with the REAL ID Act of 2005. Acceptable forms of identification would include a passport, military ID or a government-issued photo ID card that shows the applicant’s birth place.
About 53% of Americans have REAL ID compliant identification and less than 48% have a passport, according to the Federal Register. About 34% of Black Americans have a current passport, the lowest rate of any race or ethnicity.
Other forms of identification may be accepted only if shown in combination with a birth certificate or record of birth, a report of birth abroad by a U.S. citizen, a naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security or an American Indian Card with a “KIC” classification.
According to Kanter Cohen about 10% of eligible voters, or about 20 million people, do not have documentation that would meet the requirements to prove their citizenship.
“A lot of these documents are hard to get because they have underlying requirements and are expensive,” she said. “You have to go in person to the office to get them. There are high fees associated with them. Naturalization certification costs hundreds of dollars. For some people, that’s a very difficult expense.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has shot down efforts by states to enact proof-of-citizenship requirements in the past, most recently in 2013. Earlier this year it changed course to a degree. It blocked an Arizona law that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration but ruled that it can be required for some new voters.
Three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas — wrote in the brief signed order that they would have allowed the law to stand in full, denying the registration of an estimated 42,000 Arizona voters. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined three liberal justices in dissent.
Arturo Castellanos Canales, policy and advocacy manager for the National Immigration Forum, argues that it is not within Congress’ authority to determine who is qualified to vote. That authority falls to state legislatures.
“If it does [pass] I’m expecting courts to find the authority to determine the voting qualifications of the federal electorate is not up to Congress to decide,” he told UPI. “It seeks to solve a problem that does not exist. Non-citizens have been barred from voting in federal elections for at least a century. I don’t see how this bill could move forward.”
One strategy that is being discussed to move the bill forward is to attach it to a continuing resolution meant to extend funding of the federal government. Lawmakers have used continuing resolutions to approve stopgap funding in increments of a couple of months at a time for nearly a year.
Congress last passed a “minibus” funding package in March to keep the government funded through September.
“It’s so cynical to pass this in the first place. Then to try to attach it to something that makes our government run, it shows that what this bill is is really an attempt to stop people from voting,” Kanter Cohen said.
Kanter Cohen said that even national discussions about proof of citizenship can deter or disengage some potential voters who are legally eligible to cast ballots. They may be intimidated by a sense that they would be violating the law if they vote. She said it is important for would-be voters to check with their own state requirements and confirm their eligibility.
“People need accurate information from their state,” Kanter Cohen said. “These restrictive rules out there have effects that reverberate even beyond the state that they may apply to.”
Rachel Orey, director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project, told UPI that there are other and better ways to deter illegal voting and reinforce trust in the process.
Other proposals include broader adoption of REAL ID standards, improving communication between state departments of motor vehicles and election officials and granting agencies access to databases like SAVE to verify immigration status.
“There are ways we can improve voter registration and list maintenance but these should be done in time,” Orey said. “They should be well-resourced changes. Not an unfunded mandate asking officers to do this right before an election.”
19 hours agoShareSave
Brandon Drenon BBC News, Selma, North Carolina
Robin Levinson-King BBC News
Controversy swirling around a North Carolina Republican candidate for governor is causing political turbulence in a must-win swing state for Donald Trump. The BBC asked conservatives there what they make of the alleged scandal.
It was during a regular meeting of the Johnston County Republican Women’s committee that they heard the news.
All around North Carolina on Thursday, Republicans and Democrats alike had been waiting for what was billed as a bombshell exposé about Republican Lt Gov Mark Robinson.
The furniture maker-turned-politician, who is running to be the state’s first black governor, had called himself a “black Nazi” on a porn website more than a decade ago, according to a report by CNN.
Robinson, who identifies as an evangelical Christian, branded the report “tabloid lies”. The BBC has not independently verified CNN’s claims.
But when the news finally did break, it barely caused a stir, at least not among this polite gathering of women in Johnston County.
“If the accusations are accurate, it’s something for him and his wife to deal with. It’s not my business. It’s a marital issue,” said Adele Walker, 52.
Soon afterwards, the group discussed their planned $200 donation to his campaign, in which he is already trailing the Democratic candidate Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general.
“What we decided is that we’re going to donate even more money to Mr Robinson,” she said.
The opinions of conservative women like Walker are being closely watched this election, not just in North Carolina, but across the US. The Tar Heel State has one of the closest races in the country with November’s election looming.
Trump had previously offered a glowing endorsement of Robinson, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids”.
Even before the CNN exposé was published, Robinson was under scrutiny.
He has faced backlash over 2019 comments in a Facebook video about abortion on demand, when he said women should be “responsible enough to keep your skirt down”.
In 2021, he said children in schools should not be learning about “transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth”, and later rejected calls to apologise.
“I think it’s fair to call the Robinson campaign a dumpster fire at this point,” said North Carolina State University political scientist Steven Greene.
There are fears among some Republicans that Robinson could be a political albatross, causing their voters to stay home, or driving Democratic turnout.
North Carolina has remained “stubbornly Republican”, said Greene. Barack Obama was the only Democrat to win the state in 44 years, and he could only succeed once, in 2008.
But the state’s growing urban centres have tilted the political scales towards Democrats, who hope this is the year they can turn North Carolina blue.
An Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released on Thursday, before the CNN report about Robinson was published, showed Harris leading Trump by one percentage point.
That is still well within the margin of error, which means the race is very much up in the air.
This state is essential for the Republican White House candidate, Greene said.
“It’s a lot harder to see Donald Trump getting to 270 without North Carolina than Kamala Harris,” he said, referring to the number of electoral college votes needed to clinch the US presidency.
Scott Lassiter, a Republican running for state Senate, expressed disappointment that Robinson did not drop out before a state deadline on Thursday, allowing another candidate from the party to take his place.
Lassiter said Robinson is a gift to Democrats, who “would love for every race on the ballot to be about Mark Robinson at this point”.
Once a regular at Trump’s campaign events in the state, Robinson will not attend the former president’s rally in Wilmington on Saturday, according to reports.
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But those close to Robinson are sticking by him.
Guilford County chairman Chris Meadows, a Republican, said he’s known Robinson, who’s from the area, for years.
“Our position is that these are unsubstantiated allegations, accusations,” he said.
“In the age of the improvement of AI, I really don’t put any credibility in any of this until he admits it.
“CNN has a great deal of credibility problems and they have for several years.”
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FILE – Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington speaks to reporters after the House adjourns in the early hours of Friday, March 29, 2024 in Atlanta. (Matthew Pearson/WABE via AP, File)Read More
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A memorial is seen at Apalachee High School after the Wednesday school shooting, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)Read More
By JEFF AMY and CHARLOTTE KRAMONUpdated 12:37 AM GMT+6, September 13, 2024Share
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s state House speaker says lawmakers in 2025 will consider new policies to foster student mental health, detect guns and encourage people to safely store guns after a school shooting killed four at a high school northeast of Atlanta.
But Republican Jon Burns of Newington is stopping short of Democratic demands that include universal background checks, a mandate to safely lock up guns and a “red flag” law letting the state temporarily take guns from someone in crisis.
The proposals made Thursday by Burns are the first policy response to the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.
“While House Republicans have already made significant investments to strengthen security in our schools, increase access to mental healthcare, and keep our students safe, I am committed to not only continuing this work but pursuing additional policies that help ensure a tragedy like this never happens in our state again,” Burns wrote.
The gambit by the Republican leader comes as he tries to protect his party’s 102-78 majority in the state House in November’s elections. Arguments over gun policy could influence a handful of competitive seats in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, including three held by Republican incumbents.
At least one of those vulnerable Republicans, state Rep. Deborah Silcox of Sandy Springs, said in a statement Thursday that she would go further than Burns, backing universal background checks.
A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who called the shooting “our worst nightmare,” said Kemp would review any proposals, but said the investigation is still turning up new information. A spokesperson for Republican Lt. Gov Burt Jones said he is preparing a response.
Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Nine others were injured — seven of them shot.
Democrats have been slamming Republicans, arguing the violence is an outgrowth of the GOP loosening Georgia’s gun laws.
“What makes this more devastating than it already is is knowing that we had the policy tools to prevent this tragedy from ever happening in the first place,” Rep. Saira Draper of Atlanta said Friday as she and fellow Democrats demanded a special legislative session on gun violence. “And that we did not use them because my Republican colleagues chose to gamble with our children’s lives rather than face the wrath of the gun lobby.”
Investigators say the shooting was carried out by 14-year-old Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder. Authorities charged his 54-year-old father, Colin Gray, with second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. Investigators allege Colin Gray gave his son access to a semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle when he knew the teen was a danger to himself and others.
Burns said he wants to consider information sharing among police, schools and mental health workers, a nod to the fact that Colt and Colin Gray were questioned in 2023 by a Jackson County sheriff’s deputy over an online post threatening a school shooting. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum has said her office didn’t find enough evidence to bring charges. It’s unclear if Colt Gray’s earlier schools were notified about the threats.
“We are aware that a breakdown in communication between school systems and law enforcement officials allowed the shooter’s prior history to slip through the cracks upon his transfer to Apalachee High School,” Burns wrote.
The speaker also said he wants to expand mental health care for students. The state’s voluntary Apex program steers students toward counseling. The program covered 540,000 of Georgia’s 1.75 million students in 2022-2023, about 31%.
Burns also wants to examine ways to catch guns before they enter schools. Some schools are using camera systems and artificial intelligence to try to detect guns instead of metal detectors.
The speaker proposes increasing penalties for threats against schools, saying he wants to crack down on copycat threats seen since the shooting. Criminal penalties would apply only to those charged as adults, and most threat makers have been arrested as juveniles.
Finally, Burns said House Republicans would again promote safe firearm storage. The House passed legislation this year to create a state income tax credit of up to $300 for the purchase of gun safes, trigger locks, other security devices or the costs of courses on safe firearms handling. The Senate preferred a bill exempting gun safes and other safety devices from state sales tax. Both bills failed after the chambers couldn’t agree.
Democrats gained little traction on legislation that would have created a misdemeanor crime for negligently failing to secure firearms accessed by children. Rep. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat, has promised to bring back that measure.
The speaker said he’s open to other proposals, saying the House will “examine every reasonable idea and solution to protect and defend the most vulnerable among us — our children — while also protecting the right and privilege of our citizens to protect their families and property.”
Burns argued that previous school safety efforts reduced the toll at Apalachee, helping pay for wearable panic buttons that alerted authorities and school resource officers who responded.
State lawmakers and Kemp earlier approved multiple rounds of one-time security grants, totaling $184 million.
The budget that began July 1 includes more than $100 million in ongoing funding, enough to provide $47,000 a year to each public school for safety. Schools can use that for chosen security purposes, though Kemp has said he wanted it to help underwrite a security officer for each school.
Jeff Amy covers Georgia politics and government.
Kramon covers government and politics from Atlanta. She is a Report for America corps member.
Donald Trump has called on Republicans in Congress to shut down the government as the House speaker Mike Johnson vowed to stay the course and put his government funding package on the House floor on Wednesday.
Trump, posting to his Truth Social platform, urged GOP lawmakers not to vote for a six-month continuing resolution to avert a shutdown in three weeks, unless the bill is linked to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act.
The Save Act would overhaul voting laws to require proof of citizenship in order to vote. Trump wrote:
If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET. … CLOSE IT DOWN!!!
Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the measure and the bill has very little prospect of passing the House.
From Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman:
Robert F Kennedy Jr will appear in the spin room in Philadelphia tonight as a surrogate for Donald Trump, after he dropped his independent presidential bid last month and endorsed the Republican nominee.
Trump is “so desperate for support he’s scraping the bottom of the barrel and coming up with RFK Jr”, a statement from Matt Corridoni, the Democratic National Committee spokesperson said, and added:
Equally desperate, RFK Jr. is willing to sell his soul for attention — abandoning any integrity he had left. Both of these men are driven by their egos and desire for attention and that will be on full display after the debate tonight.
Polls tracker: Trump v Harris latest
On 21 July, Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris. This historic move changed the landscape of the election and how many felt about the race.
As the election enters its final weeks, the Guardian US is averaging national and state polls to see how the two candidates are faring.
Latest polls
Polling average over a moving 10-day period, as of 9 Sep 2024
Donald Trump
47.3%
Kamala Harris
47.3%
Guardian graphic. Source: Analysis of polls gathered by 538.
After two weeks of a roughly three-point Harris lead, Guardian US polling averages have Donald Trump and Harris tied for the first time since we started tracking the polls in August. Many of the high-Harris enthusiasm polls from late August are dropping off our 10-day rolling average, while several new high-quality polls have Trump in a narrow lead. Though the results are within the margins of error for the polls, Trump’s lead in those individual polls has led to a big increase in his national average.
The first presidential debate between Harris and Trump is Tuesday night. The last presidential debate was arguably one of the most consequential in modern political history, so we will be closely following the impact that the candidates’ performances have on their national standings.
A deputy manager for the Kamala Harris campaign debuted new billboards placed across Philadelphia, ahead of the debate there on Tuesday.
One billboard appears to reference Wawa convenience stores and mocks Donald Trump and his fixation on crowd sizes.
This comes as the Harris campaign also unveiled a new ad this week, titled Crowd Size, featuring former president Barack Obama’s speech from the Democratic national convention last month, during which Obama talked about Trump’s “weird obsession with crowd sizes”.
Harris holds slight edge over Trump in new national poll
With just hours to go until the much-anticipated debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a new poll published on Tuesday by PBS News/NPR/Marist shows Harris just one point ahead of Trump nationally among registered voters.
The poll also states that among independent voters, Trump received 49% while Harris received 46%, and that Trump now has a lead among the Latino voters surveyed, with 51% now choosing the ex-president.
A third of the registered voters said that the debate tonight will help them “a great deal or good amount” in making their selection.
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