J.T. Young writes for the Federalist about Democrats’ state objections to voter identification.
If voter ID requirements truly threaten civil rights, it follows that many other civil rights are also threatened. Identification is needed throughout American society, including for transportation, accommodation, and housing — historical battlegrounds for civil rights.
The SAVE America Act would require documented proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification for voting in federal elections. President Trump and Republicans support the legislation, and Americans overwhelmingly support voter ID, which is at the heart of the measure. Democrats, on the other hand, overwhelmingly oppose the SAVE America Act and, by implication, the election integrity requirements it would implement.
Rep. Joe Morelle, who was a prominent opponent of the SAVE Act in the House, has stated: “This is an extremely dangerous bill that would make it harder — not easier — for eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.”
In sum, Democrats accuse the SAVE America Act of violating civil rights, particularly those of minorities. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said this with more inflammatory language: “I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow-type laws to the entire country and is dead on arrival in the Senate.”
But the SAVE America Act’s voter ID requirement mirrors those of many other activities. A photo ID is required to board an airplane and rent a car. A photo ID is regularly required to stay at a hotel. And a photo ID is required to purchase a home.
What makes these transactions special, however, is not their photo ID requirements, but that the areas in which these requirements occur have also been foundational in America’s civil rights movement. …
… While these notable examples have rich civil rights histories, there are many other transactions in the U.S. that require photo IDs.
The purchase of firearms from a licensed dealer requires photo identification, and such restrictions on gun ownership are part and parcel of the leftist arsenal in its assault on the Second Amendment.
