Republicans are hyperventilating about the Supreme Court decision allowing people to register to vote without proving citizenship. This is one time Republicans should actually try paying attention to the decision itself and then fix the problem. The Supreme Court did not rule that the constitution forbids making people verify citizenship in order to register to vote. What it said was that since Congress has passed a federal law specifying voter registration requirements states could not add additional requirements to that law. In effect the Supreme Court told congress this was a problem they created and they have the power to fix. What Republicans should do is require voter ID and proof of citizenship on a federal basis. The Supreme Court would uphold that and the problem would be fixed permanently.
This problem is the National Voter Registration Act passed in 1993. That law, also known as the Motor Voter Act was designed to make it easier for everyone to register to vote. States are required to provide the opportunity to register to vote when someone applies for a driver’s license or renews a driver’s license. This also requires any office that provides public assistance to give out voter registration forms and it allows citizens to register to vote by mail. Obviously this was passed by a Democratic congress at the request of Bill Clinton. It is pretty obvious that the plan was to make it easier to register voters who were likely to vote Democratic, which explains by any office offering public assistance had to participate. In retrospect, the plan worked exactly as Democrats intended.
Instead of wasting time and money trying to get the Supreme Court to fix a problem congress created, they should just pass a new law. Unfortunately, Republicans are far more likely to use this Supreme Court decision for political purposes while doing very little to actually fix the problem. If Republicans in congress want to know who to blame for all those “questionable voters” they should start by purchasing mirrors.
TDM