The SAVE Act is dead. Long live the SAVE Act. Trump threatened Congress and Congress lifted a middle finger, because even Congress knows that act is terrible for everyone.
However, Trump is undeterred, driven by his own rage at 2020 and constant prodding by right-wing vote suppressors like True the Vote's Cathy Engelbrecht and her pal Mrs Clarence Thomas. So on Tuesday, the "King" issued a royal decree.
Among other things, it establishes a national voter list. I'm old enough to remember when Republicans blew a gasket over Social Security numbers, claiming they'd amount to a national database. Today, no problem with a national voter database. What could possibly go wrong?
AP reports that the order, "which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by attempting to seize states’ power to run elections, is the latest in a torrent of efforts from Trump to interfere with the way Americans vote based on his false allegations of fraud. The president has repeatedly lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential campaign and the integrity of state-run elections, asserting again Tuesday that he won “three times” and citing accusations of voter fraud that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked."
No, ya think?
In addition to the list, the executive order bars the U.S. Postal Service from delivering a ballot to anyone not on the list.
This is, plain and simple, a backhanded attempt to strip states of their agency and federalize elections. It's nothing more than a power grab to cheat on the midterm elections, which the Orange Idiot is going to lose by a large margin.
But wait, there's more! The order calls for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking, and if they don't, federal funds for elections can be withheld.
All of this is bullshit and every state should be suing him tomorrow. I'm sure Marc Elias is already all over it.
David Becker, a leading election law expert, told Democracy Docket, “It’s obvious the president didn’t learn anything from his first failed executive order. This is unconstitutional on its face. The Constitution clearly gives the president no power over elections.”
Becker said he expects courts to move quickly to block the order, as they did with earlier attempts.
“I expect that this will be blocked by multiple federal courts in a very short period of time and have no legal effect whatsoever,” he said.
Good. I hope he cries harder after the wipeout coming in the midterms.
