By EFE
He Senate rejected the so-called SAVE The USA Actan initiative supported by the president donald trump that sought to require documentary evidence of US citizenship to register as a voter in federal elections.
The measure had already been previously approved by the House of Representatives on February 11 with majority Republican support. However, upon reaching the Senate it was presented as an amendment within a broad legislative package related to immigration and failed to gather the necessary votes to advance.
The vote concluded with forty eight votes to prefer and 51 againstfar from the 60 votes required to continue the legislative process and eventually reach the presidential signature.
Among the Republicans who opposed the initiative, they stood out Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) and Susan Collins (Maine)a decision that revealed divisions within the Republican Party itself.
Debate on electoral fraud and voting access
The legislation proposed that citizens present documents such as passports, birth certificates or other proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
Proponents of the project argued that the measure would help prevent the participation of people without US citizenship in the elections. Trump publicly endorsed the proposal and presented it as a tool to combat electoral fraud.
However, civil rights organizations, voting rights groups and electoral experts argued that the measure could become a barrier for millions of citizens who do not have immediate access to those documents or who would face difficulties obtaining them.
Furthermore, critics recalled that there is no evidence of a significant non-citizen vote in US electionsa point supported by various studies and electoral reviews carried out in recent years.
The rejection of the SAVE The USA Act occurs a few months before the November midterm elections, in which Congress’s wait on an eye on will be at stake. The vote also reflects internal tensions within the Republican Party over some of the priorities pushed by Trump during his second term.
Keep reading:
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