- Requires voter ID, citizenship proof for registration, bans email voting.
- Trump alleges China stole 220 million US voter data in 2020.
- Democrats call it 'Jim Crow 2.0,' hindering voter access.
Save America Act: US President Donald Trump has been pushing Congress to pass the Save America Act, a bill that faces opposition in the Senate. On Thursday, Trump once again urged the Americans to call their representatives and senators to pass the bill. The move comes as he accused China of stealing data on 220 million American voters during the 2020 elections.
What Would the Bill Do?
The "Save America Act" (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act/Save Act) would require Americans to prove their citizenship while registering to vote and to show photo identification to vote. Additionally, the Bill says to share their voter rolls with the Department of Homeland Security.
Donald Trump said that the new provisions to the Save America Act will prohibit e-mail voting, ban transgender women and girls from participating in women's and girls' sports, and restrict transgender healthcare for minors.
Democrats criticised the Bill, claiming that the rigid requirements for the Bill would make it harder for the Americans to vote. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has called it "Jim Crow 2.0."
What Are The Democrats Saying?
Democrats have declared the bill "dead on arrival." They argued that around 21 million US citizens lack easy access to documents that the Act would require to register and stay registered to vote. Over 150 million Americans do not have a passport, and several don't have access to a copy of their birth certificate.
Over 60 million American women have changed their name after marriage and don’t have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name. The SAVE Act bills will also increase the likelihood of being wrongfully purged from state voter rolls.
The bill includes measures that would mistakenly flag lawfully registered US citizen voters as ineligible and allow states to purge their voter rolls without notifying voters before removing them. This would mean already-registered Americans wouldn’t know they were removed from the rolls until they showed up to vote and learned they were no longer registered.
Trump's Allegations Against China
Trump claimed that newly released documents indicate that China conducted the largest-ever breach of US election data over several years, dating back to the 2020 election. Trump has called for the passage of the "SAVE America Act."
China, during the 2020 election, illegally obtained files on 220 million American voters, Trump said. These files contain names, addresses, phone numbers, party voting, and other important information. This information could be used for voter registration and other malpractices. Trump called this an unprecedented threat to election security.
Donald Trump alleged that the US intelligence agencies knew about the discrepancies as early as 2020. Despite this, the officials neither informed Congress nor him. Instead, they claimed it was the most secure election in the country's history. The released documents also reference a CIA report that stated that in mid-2018, the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to use people working against the US President to reduce his vote share and prevent him from winning re-election.
China was attempting to influence the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election, the report said. Following this, Trump has ordered an investigation by the National Intelligence, Justice Department, the FBI, and the CIA. He said that those involved in the concealment should be fired and, if necessary, prosecuted.
To address this, Trump urged Congress to pass the "SAVE America Act." This legislation would require voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote and prevent mail-in ballot fraud.
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