Sen. Padilla: Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote Is ‘Voter Suppression’

DIAZ-BALART: “Hey, senator, I know that also the House today also approved the SAVE Act, a bill requiring proof of citizenship for voter registrations. The president signed a similar executive order last month. That executive order has been challenged legally, but this is a bill now that has been passed by the House. It’s going to go now to the Senate. How do you feel that — on that?”
PADILLA: “Yeah. You know, there’s that saying, when this is a solution in search of a problem, this is a classic example of the SAVE Act. What Republicans are doing is once again demonizing immigrants for the sake of making it harder for eligible citizens to register to vote and to cast their ballots in elections. It’s voter suppression in disguise, not so much of a disguise. And here is the truth. It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in our elections. Even the very conservative Heritage Foundation has only found, you know, less than 70 instances of a noncitizen voting over the last 40 years. Our current laws and protections are working. What would the SAVE Act do? It would make it harder for members of the military, for example, when they’re deployed to a different base and maybe have to re-register. And it’s not so easy from not maybe being able to vote in the next election. Or a woman who’s married and changed her last name and all of a sudden her ID doesn’t match her birth certificate. You know, it — this is voter suppression and it’s unnecessary. The — the — the last big piece of hypocrisy here, Jose, is when Democrats have proposals on how we strengthen our democracy and voting rights, Republicans are so quick to say, ‘No, no, no. States run elections. The federal government should not dictate how states do it.’ But when it’s Donald Trump who has these horrible ideas, they’re silent and want to advance it. Even Mitch McConnell knows better and has spoken publicly against both, the executive order that Donald Trump is trying to do and the SAVE Act, which includes the same provisions.”