Why is proving citizenship before voting a controversy in 2026?
In this episode, Ryan breaks down the SAVE Act with clarity and sharp humor. From the ID requirements adults already use every day, to the excuses about online access, Kinkos, and name-change paperwork, this episode cuts through the noise and gets to the core issue: responsibility.
Ryan breaks down:
What the SAVE Act actually requires
Supporters’ arguments
Opposition claims
Why ID standards matter
Why the debate is so divided
How society keeps lowering expectations
And the bigger question: When did adulthood become optional?
A full deep dive with humor, examples, and video-clip commentary that exposes how wild the debate has become.
Stay sharp, stay aware, and stay in the fray.
Smash that Follow button and 5⭐Rating!
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Here's a poll expert from CNNI use CNN so that you people can't
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claim I use by a source. This information must absolutely
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pain them to give Take a look at this take a.
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Look here, favorite photo ID to vote 85% of white people
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favorite 82% of Latino 76% of black Americans favorite.
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So the bottom line is this voter ID is not controversial in this
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country. Kamala Harris suggesting that
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certain communities lack access to things like online resources,
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copying services, documentation. You're going to have to Xerox or
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or or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove you are who you
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are. Well, there are a whole lot of
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people, especially people who live in rural communities, who
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don't. There's no Kinkos, there's no
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OfficeMax near them. I'm not so sure this approach
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will work for them. Let's just watch how this is
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being presented. Nearly 70 million married women
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in this country have changed their last name, but their birth
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certificates don't reflect that because when they got married,
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they didn't change both their ID and their birth certificate.
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Welcome to Stay in the Fray podcast.
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I'm your host, Ryan. This is where headlines get hit
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hard. Hypocracy gets shredded and the
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absurd are laughed at. If you want comfort, this isn't
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your place. If you want blunt and
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unfiltered, I'm your guy. Join me in the fray all you
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need. To do is just listen up.
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All right, guys, hey, I've got to chime in.
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You know, you probably know I would, but I've got to chime in
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on this voter ID issue, the save act, and the chaos surrounding.
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Again, we can't just have something where everyone says,
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you know what, this makes a lot of sense.
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Nope. Too much to ask.
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Barely. There's too much to ask for
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somebody to prove they are a citizen before voting in a
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federal election. It's now controversial.
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We require ID to buy Sudafed. We require it to rent a car to
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board a plane. But asking for proof of
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citizenship before selecting a president of the United States?
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Slow down. You are fascist all of a sudden.
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And before we get emotional, let's get factual.
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The SAVE Act, which is whatever he's freaking out about.
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The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, for those who
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would like to know, would require documentary proof of US
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citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
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That's it. They're requiring a pop quiz in
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the Constitution. Perhaps there should be just
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proof of citizenship. That's it.
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Somehow this is turned into a 5 alarm political fire.
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Now here's what's interesting. Here's a poll expert from CNNI
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use CNN so that you people can't claim I use by a source.
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This information must absolutely paying them to give take a look
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at this take a. Look here, favorite photo ID to
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vote 85% of white people favorite 82% of Latino, 76% of
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black Americans favorite. So the bottom line is this voter
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ID is not controversial in this country.
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A photo ID to vote is not controversial in this country.
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It is not controversial by party and it is not controversial by
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race. The vast majority of Americans
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agree with Nicki Minaj that in fact, you should have a photo ID
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to be able. To vote so something of a not.
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I love the Nicki Minaj line. There it is.
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Support for voter ID requirements polls extremely
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high across the entire country, including minorities and
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Democrats. This isn't a fringe idea.
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It's one of the few election issues where public opinions
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actually pretty bipartisan and Congress almost perfectly split
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down party lines. Only one Democrat in Congress
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voted to pass it. The simple question is when
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something that pulls that broadly with the public splits
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almost entirely by party in Washington.
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Why? We'll get there.
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This is State of the Fray podcast.
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Let's roll. All right, I'm not a news
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anchor. I'm not here to read you AC span
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transcript, but I'll give you what you need to know.
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The SAVE Act, Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would
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require documentary proof of US citizenship when registered to
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vote in federal elections. I already told you this.
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We're talking about documents that already exist in the
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system. A passport, a birth certificate,
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naturalization papers, not adna test, not a genealogy kit, not
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your great grandmother's diary from Ellis Island, paperwork
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that already exists. A reminder, federal law already
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prohibits non citizens from voting.
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That's not new. They're not supposed to be
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voting, period, people. It's not, it's not.
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That's not even part of the debate.
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The SAVE Act isn't inventing citizenship requirements.
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It's about verification at the registration stage, not this
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assumption. If no illegal voting is going
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on, why would this be a problem? The supporters will argue it
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closes loopholes, strengthens election integrity.
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It prevents non citizens from registering.
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If voting is sacred, it should be safeguarded with
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documentation. The opponents to this act argue
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it could create bureaucratic hurdles.
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Some eligible voters may not have immediate access to birth
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certificates or passports. Documentation mismatches,
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especially name changes within married women, could complicate
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registration. Government systems aren't always
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efficient, and added friction can discourage participation.
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Basically, I'm lazy, I'm not going to vote.
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Technically, the debate is not about whether only citizens
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should vote. It's about how much friction is
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acceptable in proving it. And that's where we enter the
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common sense territory, because we've somehow reached the point
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where asking for documentation is framed as distrust.
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A blind trust is framed as virtue.
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Let me ask you something. Let's talk about the real world.
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How does an adult function in modern America without ID?
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Think about it. You need ID to drive to get a
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job, open a bank account, rent an apartment, buy alcohol.
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It's important. Pick up concert tickets, check
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into a hotel, adopt A dog, buy spray paint, get into Costco,
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getting a hunting license, buying whipped cream chargers,
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getting into a club, entering a Dave and Buster's after 10:00
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PM, renting bowling shoes. It should I go on.
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But choosing the leader of the free world, that's where we say
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we don't want to overcomplicate it.
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You need ID to prove you're old enough to rent a scooter
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downtown, but not to determine nuclear policy.
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And I keep hearing, well, it's too difficult for some people.
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Really, it's too difficult. We're talking about the single
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most consequential civic action in a Republic.
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If it's important, it should require something.
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And if someone can truly not obtain identification in 2026
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America, how exactly are they navigating the rest of their
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life? I'll let that sit.
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Here's where it gets infuriating.
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People who support voter ID laws are now routinely labeled
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racist, suppressive, prejudice, all the buzzwords.
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The implication is that requiring identification somehow
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disproportionately harms minority voters.
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Now pause for a second. If you argue that requiring ID
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disproportionately harms minorities, what exactly are you
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saying certain groups are less capable of completing the same
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adult tasks that every other American completes daily?
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Because that sounds less like compassion and more like
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condescension, and I don't think that's how most Americans of any
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race see themselves. You don't have to take my word
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for it. Why don't I just show you a
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quick reaction to that notion from someone in that community?
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I came across the clip of Vice President Kamala Harris
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suggesting that certain communities lack access to
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things like online resources, copying services, documentation.
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The implication being that voter ID requirements create
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disproportionate burdens. She's talking about the Black
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community. And then a Black influencer
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responded to it in a way that I think says more than I ever
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could. Roll this one guys.
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You're going to have to Xerox or or or photocopy your ID to send
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it in to prove you are who you are.
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Well, there are a whole lot of people, especially people who
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live in rural communities, who don't.
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There's no Kinkos, there's no OfficeMax near them.
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People have to understand that when we're talking about voter
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ID laws, be clear about who you have in mind and what would be
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required of them to prove who they are.
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He's like, biddingly. It's fantastic.
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I mean, I'm not so sure this approach will work for them.
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If the defense against voter ID laws requires portraying
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millions of capable adults unable to access the same tools
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everyone else uses daily, that is not protection.
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That's projection. There is a difference between
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acknowledging bureaucratic inefficiencies and suggesting
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entire demographics are incapable of navigating
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adulthood. And I think a lot of people,
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including the guy you just saw, are tired of being spoken about
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like that. Now let's address the elephant
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in the room. Of course.
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Why is this almost entirely split by party without saying
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it? When something divides nearly
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100% along party lines, it's rarely about principle alone.
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It's about incentives. Policies that expand
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registration and reduce verification tend to benefit
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urban, transient, and lower income populations.
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Demographics that lean Democratic.
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Policies that tighten verification tend to benefit
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Republicans. That's not a conspiracy theory,
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it's political math. So when I say in my opinion,
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it's pretty obvious why they're so adamant, I'm not alleging
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secret crime rings. I'm talking about political
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incentive structures. Why does one side need to lessen
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ID laws? It's not rocket science, people.
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Every party fights the hardest for policies that benefit their
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coalition. That's politics.
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So stop pretending. So let's talk about one of the
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arguments being made against this bill in this regard.
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And I genuinely don't know where to begin with this one.
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Apparently we're being told that millions of married women could
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be unable to register because their birth certificates reflect
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their maiden name and their current ID reflects their
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married name. Before I even respond, let's
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just watch how this is being presented.
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Nearly 70 million married women in this country have changed
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their last name, but their birth certificates don't reflect that.
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In Michigan's third district alone, 160 women could find
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themselves unable to register simply because when they got
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married, they didn't change both their ID and their birth
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certificate. 160 women in my district alone.
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Goodness. First of all, birth certificates
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don't change when somebody gets married.
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They've never changed. That's not new.
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It's not some shocking development tied to this bill.
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What changes is your legal name, and when that happens, there is
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a paper trail. Marriage certificate updated.
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Social Security record, updated driver's license, passport
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update, mortgage documents, bank accounts.
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Married women navigate this documentation chain all the
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time. To get a passport, to buy a
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house, to update insurance, to deal with Social Security, to
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file taxes, to travel internationally.
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But suddenly, when it comes to registering to vote, presenting
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documentation that connects those names is treated like an
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insurmountable barrier. We're not talking about scaling
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Everest here. We're talking about producing
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documents that already exist. Is it paperwork?
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Yes. Is it oppression?
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No, here's the bigger issue. When lawmakers present this as
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though millions of women are incapable of navigating standard
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identity identity verification, that is not advocacy.
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That's lowering the bar. Voting in a federal election is
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not a casual activity. If anything deserves
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documentation standard, it's that.
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If the argument is that any administrative step is too much
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to ask, then what exactly is the standard?
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Because no friction whatsoever is not how any serious system
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operates. All that being said, I have
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another question and this has really been bothering me these
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days. It's a little a little off off a
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topic, but when did adulthood become optional?
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This reminded me of that. It's not just this.
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This debate isn't really about paperwork.
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It's about standards. Like I just said, somewhere
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along the line, asking adults to meet basic requirements became
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controversial. We've lowered academic
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standards. We've created the idea of safe
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spaces from words. We treat disagreement as trauma.
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We replace accountability with accommodation.
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And now asking for proof of citizenship before voting is
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framed as oppression. When did adulthood become
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optional? Voting is not a TikTok trend.
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It isn't a mood. It's a civic responsibility.
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If we treat it as sacred, then protect it.
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If we treat it as serious, then verify it.
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Otherwise what are we even doing?
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So here's where I land. As if you didn't know already.
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If you're a citizen, proving it should not be offensive.
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If voting matters, safeguarding it should not be controversial.
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And if the argument against verification relies on lowering
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expectations for adults, then maybe the problem isn't the ID.
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Maybe the problem is that we've gotten very comfortable lowering
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the bar. We don't need hysteria.
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We don't need accusations. We need standards.
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And we need to stop pretending that asking adults to act like
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adults is oppressive unless there's another reason behind it
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for the Democrats. If you enjoyed this, like the
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episode, follow the show, hit the bell, all of the things
00:14:48
depending on where you're watching, share it with someone
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who still believes in common sense.
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Have them join us. Let's build a common sense team,
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if you will. We are not crazy, we are not
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extremists. We are simply citizens who think
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civic duties should mean something.
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We can become sane again together.
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So say sharp. Stay honest, stay fearless, stay
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in the fray. Love you guys, all you.