Senator Tammy Duckworth says SAVE Act designed to 'serve fraud in the White House' ahead of debate

Ahead of a Senate debate on the Trump administration's Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act—a bipartisan bill the White House claims will prevent voter fraud—Senator Tammy Duckworth took to social media and expressed why she would "no". "The SAVE Act is not about stopping voter fraud. It was designed to serve the fraud in the White House," Duckworth wrote, before taking a dig at President Donald Trump. "Trump knows his policies aren't popular, so he is desperate to stop Americans from having their voices heard."

Duckworth and other Democrats have criticised the bill, claiming it creates unnecessary hurdles for eligible American citizens to exercise their right to vote. Democrats argue that the bill is designed to suppress American voices by creating additional voting hurdles for specific demographics, like low-income individuals and women who have changed their names. In a social media post on Tuesday, Senator Mark Kelly said that the bill would "disenfranchise many Americans" if it became law. "This bill requires everyone to re-register to vote in person, and your driver’s license, REAL ID, or military ID aren't even good enough. Imagine all of our seniors who don't have valid passports and haven't seen their birth certificates in decades? What about them? How hard will it be for them to register?" he said.

GOP legislators, meanwhile, hope to pass the bill before the November midterms, arguing that the voter registration process would not be difficult in practice as special accommodations have been made for those who do not have all the necessary documentation, including passports, driver's licenses, and birth certificates. "We've made special accommodation for those who don't have documentation, for those who can't find their birth certificate—maybe their house burned down, maybe their dog ate it, whatever it is," Senator Mike Lee had said. For such individuals, the GOP bill allows states to take sworn statements of citizenship to be verified later by local officials.

Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday voted to bring the bill up for debate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) defended his opposition to the measure by reiterating that the proposal would revive Jim Crow-style restrictions on voting by disenfranchising millions of voters, especially women and minorities. Ahead of the debate, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that Republicans would use the Democrats' position on the SAVE America Act if they failed to get on board. “I think that's a fairly simple position and one Democrats ought to eventually get on board with. But if we don't … obviously, it's an issue we will be able to use, I think, in the fall elections," Thune told Fox News anchor Bret Baier, The Hill reported.