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Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the SAVE America Act makes it harder for Americans to vote. As a member of the Subcommittee on Elections, my responsibility is to protect access at the ballot box, not to restrict it.
That is why I offered several comments and amendments to preserve online voter registration, ensure due process when an eligible citizen is denied the right to vote, mandate that citizenship only needs to be proven once, and allow the use of an expired passport to register to vote.
My amendments sought to limit the harm that this bill would cause and ensure that every citizen had accessible and secure ways to register and cast a ballot. This seems normal to me. This isn't about ID. This is about access. This is about procedures that will minimize the inconvenience to the United States citizens to cast their ballots.
Despite these facts, Republicans on the Rules Committee unanimously blocked these amendments from even being considered. That tells you everything you need to know. This isn't about making it easier for Americans to vote. It isn't about so-called election integrity. It is about tilting the playing field.
Republicans are losing support because voters aren't buying their ideas. Instead of changing their policies, they are trying to silence the American people at the ballot box. It is not working for their rigged, gerrymandered districts. It is not working for this effort to try to preclude people from registering to vote.
If Republicans really cared about people registering to vote, they would have online voter registration. The majority would make it to where people didn't have to go to one registrar's office in the middle of a county only during working hours when they are working their own shifts and they are not able to get there. How are people expected to register to vote under these rules?
If my Republican colleagues really cared, they would open it up. They would make online registration the rule and the law of the land.
It is shameful. It is undemocratic. I urge my colleagues in this Chamber to vote ``no'' on this bill.
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