Senate Democrats’ recent rejection of voter ID is giving Republicans fresh ammunition in the midterm fight, putting them on the opposite side of a practice that is common across the country and broadly popular with voters in both parties.
Republicans have developed a cynical view of why Democrats won’t play ball with voter ID, arguing that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus don’t want to give the GOP a win heading into the midterm elections.
“Democrats are gonna vote against it because they don’t want to give the president a win,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital. “They don’t want to give Republicans a win. They’ll screw the country and stuff.”
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Republicans’ latest attempt to pass a federal voter ID law, which was paired with another popular issue to ban insider trading in Congress, comes months after initially launching their push to pass the SAVE America Act, a high priority for President Donald Trump that Schumer and Democrats have time and again rejected.
Earlier this year, Democrats argued that voter ID isn’t so bad, it’s just how Republicans were approaching it that they disagreed with — Schumer dubbed the SAVE America Act “Jim Crow 2.0” and contended it would disenfranchise Black and Brown voters.
“Democrats support voter ID,” Schumer said on a press call earlier this year. “In fact, we included it, and it is included, in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago.”
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But as the months have dragged on, an issue that voters overwhelmingly support has become a place for Democrats to dig their heels into the dirt against.
Requiring identification to vote is already a practice in 36 states. Of those, 23 require photo ID, while 13 accept another form of identification, such as a bank statement. Nine of those states have Democratic senators.
“We already have it,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Fox News Digital. “I mean, Virginia has a voter ID law that our citizens really like.”
“Virtually every state has a voter ID law,” he continued. “So, what, there has to be a one-size-fits-all federal thing for states [that] are already doing this?”
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Republicans say that the Democratic resistance has a more nefarious intent. Requiring voter ID would allegedly nuke some of their voter base, illegal immigrants, and therefore lower their chances of winning in federal elections.
“Well, it’s evident Democrats want to make it easier to cheat,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital. ” Republicans want to make it easier to vote, make sure nobody’s cheating. And that’s where we are on this voter ID, an 80/20 issue or not even more.”
Barrasso argued that identification is required in several mundane instances of life, from boarding a plane to buying a beer — and even to get into some rallies held by Democratic candidates during this election cycle.
“They’re complete hypocrites on this,” Barrasso said. “But [what] we need to do is elect more Republicans to be able to win these elections and make sure we have people here that see what the American people see, which is, you have to have a photo ID to vote.”
