It appears Dan Sullivan and his staff have not read the voter-suppression bill he co-sponsored
Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich the Third continue to claim that the SAVE Act will not disenfranchise thousands of Alaska voters.
But the evidence shows that Sullivan and Begich the Third, signing on with extremists in the Trump party, are wrong.
Nicholas the Third attacks the news media, claiming a “small unquestioning fringe” is spreading lies about the bill he voted for.
It is undeniable that the Sullivan/Begich measure is a voter suppression bill.
It would make it harder for rural Alaskans to vote.
It would make it harder for Alaskans in cities to vote if they do not have passports, birth certificates or updated IDs within easy reach.
This is one of the many issues on which Sullivan can’t speak for himself.
Instead, his publicity agent, Amanda Coyne, is given the privilege of making things up.
Had they read the bill, they would have known that Coyne was spreading false information.
“Contrary to what some are saying, nothing in the SAVE Act would disenfranchise Alaska voters. All it requires is that when someone registers to vote, they have written evidence of American citizenship in the form of an ID. If they don’t have the ID, they can sign an affidavit on the spot that declares they are a U.S. citizen,” Coyne told Alaska’s News Source.
There is no provision in S.128 that allows what Coyne claims.
What the bill actually says is that an election official has to be convinced that the person showing up with no proof of citizenship is able to prove that he or she is a citizen.
(A real ID Alaska driver’s license would not be proof as that does not show whether the holder is a citizen.)
The person without proof of citizenship would have to sign a document claiming to be a citizen.
The election official would then rule if the person without proof of citizenship had provided proof of citizenship.
The election official won’t do this without proof, the kind of proof that the wannabe voter didn’t have. A document signed by a wannabe voter would not prove a thing.
The bill says the affidavit is to be “signed by the official swearing or affirming the applicant sufficiently established United States citizenship for purposes of registering to vote.”
The bill puts the responsibility for deciding if the applicant is eligible to vote upon the election official, not the wannabe voter. It’s not a simple matter of showing up and signing a document without proof.
And that leads us to a great mystery: Exactly how is an election official going to decide that someone without proof of citizenship has proven that he or she is a citizen?
What is the sound of one hand clapping? How long is a piece of string?
Anyone reading this flawed bill would realize that it is a nightmare for Alaska. Sullivan, Coyne and Begich haven’t bothered to try to save Alaska from the SAVE Act.
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Someone who registers to vote without proof of citizenship may be able to vote, under the Sullivan/Begich plan, if that person can prove he or she is a citizen. An election official would have to sign an affidavit saying the person without proof of citizenship managed to prove that he or she is a citizen.