Know in person: why Trump requires tightening voter identification rules

US President Donald Trump has proposed the inclusion in the bill on election protection of a clause on documents that must be presented at the polling stations. So he reacted to the measures to protect the results of the will of the American people, proposed by the Democratic Party.

“You can’t continue discussions on election protection without prior agreement that voter identification must play an extremely important role in any final agreement. Without a certificate, this all does not make sense! ”- wrote the head of state on his Twitter.

No debate on Election Security should go forward without first agreeing that Voter ID (Identification) must play a very strong part in any final agreement. Without Voter ID, it is all so meaningless!

The current US federal law does not spell out exactly what documents voters must present in order to cast their vote. This issue, according to the tradition prevailing in America, is referred to the jurisdiction of local authorities. Only 17 of the 50 US states have a law requiring voters to present photo IDs at the polls. In other regions, it is enough to present any document, most often an extract from a bank account.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with this state of affairs. He claimed that in the 2016 presidential election, his rival Hillary Clinton was voted by a large number of illegal migrants who do not have citizenship or an official residence permit in the United States. On Fox News, Trump estimated the number of such illegal voters at 2.8 million.

Discussions about the extent to which the elections in the United States are protected from manipulation have escalated in connection with the investigation of the commission of special prosecutor Robert Muller. She did not find evidence of Trump’s "collusion" with the Kremlin. Currently, the topic of Moscow’s alleged interference in the election process has largely lost its relevance to the American voter, experts say. Nevertheless, analysts emphasize that, due to political inertia, lawmakers have proposed a number of measures to prevent interference in the election process.

In July, two bills on election protection were considered in the US Senate. One suggested legislatively enshrining the provision that voting can only be by paper ballots, and not by electronic means. The second document obliged the participants in election campaigns and their families to inform the FBI of any cases when foreign states offer them this or that help. However, on the initiative of the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, these initiatives were blocked. This circumstance was outraged by the American liberal press.

“Mitch McConnell is working for Russia. This does not mean that he is a spy, but this accusation is not empty, either, ”The Washington Post wrote.

“Ambiguous position”

Experts note that Trump’s proposal puts the Democrats "in a very ambiguous position." On the one hand, they cannot but support him if they are really worried about the security of the American elections. On the other hand, the introduction of the rule on compulsory presentation of documents will strike at the positions of the Democrats.

• North Carolina is one of 17 US states to vote upon presentation of a driver’s license
• Reuters
• © Chris Keane

“Yesterday's migrants who recently received citizenship may not have documents with photographs and an indication of their place of residence in American conditions. These people have the right to vote, but in the 2020 presidential election they will most likely vote for the Democratic candidate. Republicans traditionally focus on the middle class, people held. There are so many among Trump voters. Therefore, he is interested in the fact that as many people as possible who do not have a full social package will be cut off from voting. Accordingly, the opposite is beneficial for democrats, ”said Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, in an interview with RT.

Democrats have a purely legal basis for ignoring Trump's proposal for identity cards for voters. The fact is that in the USA there are no unified internal passports. They are partly replaced by a driver’s license, but there is no law in the United States that would oblige Americans to drive a car. The adoption of such a law, or even the introduction of some kind of “voter passport,” will require significant financial costs.

“It will be a rather expensive event. States may claim that they cannot afford such expenses. The federal government, of course, is able to allocate the appropriate funds, but the question is the amount of this financial assistance. Trump may be accused of squandering taxpayer funds for no reason, ”said Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the US and Canada Institute, in an interview with RT.

Future initiative

Experts believe that Trump’s proposal is unlikely to be accepted until the next presidential election, scheduled for November 2020. But in the future, the rule on the mandatory use of identity cards during voting, quite possibly, will be enshrined in law. Vladimir Vasiliev recalls the presidential election in 2000, when the outcome of the confrontation between Al Gore and George W. Bush was decided by a recount in Florida.

• Trump believes that about 3 million illegal migrants voted in the US presidential election in 2016
• Reuters
• © Gus Ruelas

“If there is a voter identification system, the requirements of checking the outcome of the vote will be met with less resistance by state and municipal authorities. So, I think, the US electoral system will gradually change in the direction that Trump has indicated, ”the expert said.

Vladimir Bruter predicts that in the upcoming presidential election in 2020, the issue of voting in Florida will be relevant. There are quite a lot of Hispanic migrants in this state, who are likely to support the Democratic candidate, as well as representatives of the upper and middle classes who are focused on supporting Trump.

“Supporters of the president are preparing for the fact that in states with such a population structure they will have problems. Republicans are changing the geography of these districts in order to secure their own benefits, ”said the expert.

Vasiliev notes that the upcoming presidential election will force the Americans to change their perception of the country's electoral system.

“If you look at polls during the 2000 presidential election, most Americans thought that Bush and Gore were, of course, different politicians. But they did not look diametrically opposed. Now that the country is split, when the parties offer completely different programs, the problem of possible election manipulation is becoming more acute, ”concludes Vasiliev.