Featured Image Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Callum Jones
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
A new bill has officially been passed in the US that will see elections in the country change as we know it after Donald Trump signed off an executive order.
Since President Trump returned to office for a second term in January he has signed countless executive orders - some being more controversial than others.
These include renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, an order eradicating the Department of Education, and one that could have a massive impact on medical patients.
Last month, the 47th POTUS signed an order entitled: ‘Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections’.
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“Despite pioneering self-government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing,” the legislation states.
“India and Brazil, for example, are tying voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States largely relies on self-attestation for citizenship.”
And now a new bill codifying how exactly this will work is making its way through Congress.
The US House of Representatives approved the bill on Thursday (April 10), with politicians voting 220-208 in favour of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the Save Act for short.
Voters in elections will now need to show ‘documentary proof of US citizenship’ when registering to vote in federal votes, with accepted forms of ID including US passports, identification documents compliant with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005s, official military identification cards, and other valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification.
The new order also insists individual states work with federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, to share voter lists and prosecute crimes via a common registration form.
The Guardian reports around half of US citizens do not have a passport, while Democrats have pointed out some voters no longer have birth certificates.
Passports in the US cost $165.
Georgian Democrat Nikema Williams said: "Y’all, that’s a poll tax, plain and simple, and it’s blatant voter suppression."
While Republican representative Mary Miller responded: "This past week and today, all we hear are the Democrats sharing their concerns that rural Americans, women and people of color are not capable of getting an ID.
"This is insulting, condescending and an untrue argument. You need an ID for most everything else in daily life."
After singing the executive order last month at the White House, Trump told reporters: “Election fraud. You've heard the term. We're going to end it, hopefully. At least this will go a long way toward ending it.”