Durbin Slams Latest Unconstitutional Attempts By Trump To Restrict Voting

Durbin Slams Latest Unconstitutional Attempts By Trump To Restrict Voting

As Senate Republicans struggle to garner support for their SAVE America Act, Donald Trump issued an executive order to restrict mail-in voting even though he did so himself just weeks ago

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, addressed the latest attempts by President Donald Trump and his Administration to restrict voters' access to the ballot box, including his latest executive order targeting mail-in voting, as well as Senate Republican's misguided SAVE America Act.

"People should not be allowed to vote in an election illegally. Is that a radical idea? I think it's a basic idea. It ought to be against the law for somebody who is not legal to try to vote in America. It is. It's a felony," said Durbin.

Durbin then cited an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center of the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation's?Election Fraud database, which found only 77 instances of noncitizen voting in a 20-year period. Each individual faced investigation by the appropriate authorities.

"In a 20-year period of time, seventy-seven people in America who were ineligible tried to vote. Seventy-seven out of millions being registered every election cycle. So, the Republicans said 'that's enough, seventy-seven is enough. I used to work for a fellow in politics who said 'for every political issue there's a good reason and a real reason.' Good reason is to stop fraud in voting. Real reason? Turn this election upside down in November," said Durbin.

"The point is there are so many things we can be working on now. This is all unnecessary and overdone. What we're telling you today is there are more important things to worry about in America. First, get these gas prices down. Filled your tank recently? $4 a gallon? $5 a gallon? In Illinois, I run into both. Families will put a lot more money into the tank than before, because of this President's undeclared war. That's what we're facing," continued Durbin.

Durbin then condemned President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting.

"This executive order should come as no surprise to anyone. The President has long sought to sow distrust in the integrity of our elections. Last month, he said 'mail-in voting means mail-in cheating.' But public records and recent reporting reveal the President himself voted by mail in a recent special election for the state house district that includes Mar-a-Lago. So, according to President Trump: vote-by-mail is 'cheating' for when the nurse who is working strict hours or the elderly person without mobility, but totally fine when he does it. The hypocrisy of this White House knows no bounds," said Durbin.

Durbin then highlighted serious concerns about the President's preferred data systems, proven faulty and unreliable.

"There are serious concerns that the processes and systems that federal agencies would employ to enforce this executive order are filled with errors and would produce unintended consequences. Under this executive order, the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration would be responsible for determining a voter's citizenship status-empowering them at the federal level to create a list of approved voters who may receive mail-in ballots. However, nearly a quarter of SSA's own records lack any citizenship information. It's the same bad data already used by DHS's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program, which has repeatedly misidentified American citizens as noncitizens. They tested the President's SAVE program to see how many were not voting properly. They went to Boone County, Missouri. More than half the voters flagged as ineligible turned out to be American citizens. The system doesn't work," said Durbin.

Durbin concluded: "I come to the floor today to say if you can't protect the right of Americans to vote, however they want to vote, then you've forgotten the very basics of our democracy."

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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