{"id":46648,"date":"2026-02-12T19:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46648"},"modified":"2026-02-12T19:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:12:20","slug":"our-democracy-depends-on-rejecting-this-charade-gop-pushes-bills-to-prevent-millions-from-voting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/our-democracy-depends-on-rejecting-this-charade-gop-pushes-bills-to-prevent-millions-from-voting\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Our Democracy Depends on Rejecting This Charade\u2019: GOP Pushes Bills to Prevent Millions From Voting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"US<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) speaks during a House Rules Committee meeting on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Samuel Corum\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is Trump\u2019s power grab in legislative garb,\u201d said one expert.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 11, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congressional Republicans<\/a> on Tuesday held hearings on a pair of bills that watchdogs, election experts, and Democratic lawmakers characterized as brazen and dangerous efforts to suppress voter turnout in service of President Donald Trump\u2019s broader assault on democracy\u2014which has included a call<\/a> for the GOP<\/a> to \u201cnationalize the voting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday\u2019s hearings, held by the House Committees on Rules and Administration, featured a revived version of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) Act and Rep. Bryan Steil\u2019s (R-Wis.) newly introduced<\/a> Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act, which one analyst described<\/a> as possibly the \u201cmost dangerous attack on voting rights<\/a> ever\u201d unveiled in the US Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GENIUS<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Most Dangerous Attack on Voting Rights Ever\u2019? New GOP Election Bill Sparks Dire Warnings<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Speaker<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Republicans Approve \u2018Dystopian\u2019 Voter Suppression Bill That Would Force States to Give Info to DHS<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During his opening remarks at the House Administration Committee hearing on the MEGA Act, the panel\u2019s ranking member, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), said that \u201cthis scheme is not just how Republicans plan to take over our elections, it\u2019s how they plan to take over our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRepublicans know that they have one hope at winning the next election: change the rules of the game, destroy the\u00a0rule of law<\/a>, and desert any last remaining shred of allegiance to the\u00a0United States<\/a>\u00a0Constitution,\u201d Morelle added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/2021288907493494858\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both the SAVE Act\u2014which is expected to get a House vote this week\u2014and the MEGA Act would impose severe restrictions on voting access by effectively eliminating voter registration by mail, implementing nationwide photo ID requirements, banning universal mail-in ballots for federal elections, allowing massive voter roll purges, and threatening nonpartisan election officials with imprisonment if they fail to uphold the bills\u2019 strict voter documentation requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If passed, the SAVE Act would require anyone registering to vote in federal elections to furnish documentary proof of US citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, in person. The Brennan Center for Justice has estimated<\/a> that 21 million people in the US \u201clack ready access to these documents,\u201d noting that \u201chalf of all Americans don\u2019t have a passport, for example, and millions of married women who have changed their names might need to jump through extra hoops to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake no mistake: The SAVE Act would stop millions of American citizens from voting,\u201d the Brennan Center wrote in an analysis of the legislation on Tuesday. \u201cIt would be the most restrictive voting bill ever passed by Congress. It is Trump\u2019s power grab in legislative garb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The co-chairs of the Not Above the Law Coalition placed the voter suppression bills in the context of Trump\u2019s \u201cyearslong campaign of election lies and conspiracy to overturn the 2020 results\u201d as well as \u201chis recent attempts to nationalize election administration, and weaponization of the Department of Justice<\/a> to intimidate voters and officials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRepublicans are falling in line by attempting to silence American voters under the guise of \u2018election integrity,\u2019\u201d the coalition said. \u201cHouse Republicans<\/a> are doing Trump\u2019s bidding instead of holding him accountable. The real threats to election integrity sit in the White House<\/a> and among those enabling his authoritarian agenda. Our democracy depends on rejecting this charade and confronting Trump\u2019s documented attacks on free and fair elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump White House has publicly endorsed<\/a> the SAVE Act amid mounting fears<\/a> that the president\u2014animated by false claims of large-scale voter fraud\u2014is moving to undermine the midterm elections<\/a> later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will be up to Democrats to hold their ground and ensure the SAVE Act\u2019s ultimate defeat. It will be up to all of us to not be fooled by the myths and the lies\u2014and protect our elections so they remain free and fair,\u201d wrote<\/a> Brennan Center president Michael Waldman. \u201cAnd we should stand with election officials who now face threats of groundless criminal prosecution for doing their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor voters, who must have the most powerful voice in our democracy,\u201d Waldman added, \u201cthe stakes are high, and getting higher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) speaks during a House Rules Committee meeting on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Samuel Corum\/Getty Images) \u201cIt is Trump\u2019s power grab in legislative garb,\u201d said one expert. Jake Johnson Feb 11, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) Congressional Republicans on Tuesday held hearings on a pair of bills… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46648"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46649,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46648\/revisions\/46649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}