1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:06,879 Speaker 1: And now for a moment of clarity. 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 2: The Save Act is about stripping American citizens of the 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,400 most fundamental right, and that is to vote. It is 4 00:00:14,439 --> 00:00:18,160 about making it more difficult to register. It's about threatening 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:23,239 election officials with imprisonment because they may make a small 6 00:00:23,399 --> 00:00:27,480 error in a voter courage process or maintaining their databases. 7 00:00:27,879 --> 00:00:32,079 The Save Act is meant to sabotage our elections. It's 8 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:35,600 meant to deprive tens of millions of Americans from being 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,200 able to exercise the fundamental right to vote, which preserves 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,000 all of our rights. So the Save Act must be 11 00:00:42,119 --> 00:00:44,880 rejected by everyone in Congress. This shouldn't even be a 12 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,200 partisan issue. This should not be something that anyone, regardless 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,520 of what your political affiliation is, should support, because it 14 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,039 ultimately takes away what we as Americans need to hold 15 00:00:56,039 --> 00:00:59,640 our government to account to determine who represents us. Why 16 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,640 should we have to show our papers just to register 17 00:01:02,759 --> 00:01:04,920 to vote. It's not about voter ID, and I think 18 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,799 that's a huge misconception because we identify ourselves all the 19 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,200 time at the polls. We have to be verified through 20 00:01:12,239 --> 00:01:15,439 state databases and through many other ways. So it's not 21 00:01:15,439 --> 00:01:19,400 about voter ID. Voter ID exists, Voter verification exists. This 22 00:01:19,519 --> 00:01:23,799 is about choosing a form of identification that half of 23 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,599 Americans don't have, and the black people don't have using 24 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,079 a passport. And I challenge all of your viewers to 25 00:01:30,079 --> 00:01:31,840 tell me where they keep their birth certificate if they 26 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:33,200 could get their hands on it right now. 27 00:01:33,599 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 3: What if I could call my mom, then I would 28 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:37,359 be able to provide. 29 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: That for you. How recently I know where mine is. 30 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:47,599 Speaker 3: But yes, special circumstances. The reality, though, is to the misconception. 31 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,439 The reality is that most Americans in the main like 32 00:01:52,519 --> 00:01:57,239 the idea, yes, a voter identification in the main, they do. 33 00:01:57,359 --> 00:01:59,640 So That's why John Thune stands in front of a 34 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,680 bank of microphones and puts this piece in with banking 35 00:02:03,959 --> 00:02:08,800 and with you know, checking out online and buying paying 36 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:10,240 something with your credit card. 37 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:14,319 Speaker 1: For them, the argument is all one innocent thing. I 38 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,240 don't understand why your Democrats are so upset about a 39 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,919 little voter bill. Y'all need to read the bill, that's right, 40 00:02:23,479 --> 00:02:27,520 because the bill is more than the voting ID part. 41 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,520 The bill strips a lot away from folks in terms 42 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:37,960 of their civic and civil liberties regarding the franchise that 43 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,360 our constitution gives them. That's the messaging that the Democrats 44 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,759 need to put out. They can't get hooked up and 45 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,319 play the Republican game where you get sucked into a 46 00:02:48,599 --> 00:02:53,199 dumb behind conversation on something as you just noted, jenay 47 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,919 is commonplace and everybody knows and it's not. It's right. 48 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:03,120 Number two, the Republicans aren't offering at the same time 49 00:03:03,159 --> 00:03:08,000 they're requiring voter identification, they're not offering that the government 50 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:13,599 provide those people with voter identification cards that they set 51 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:19,199 up at libraries and banks and restaurants and grocery stores, 52 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,800 the opportunity for grandma to come in and get that idea. 53 00:03:22,879 --> 00:03:24,840 I can tell you how hard it was to get 54 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,439 an ID for my ninety something year old mother, who 55 00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:32,159 could not go down to the MVA to get her 56 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,599 identification card. So you know what we did. We ain't 57 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:38,759 get it right, and so when I had to do business, 58 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:40,960 I had to go in and talk on her behalf 59 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,159 and because it was too much effort. So if you 60 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,960 make it easy, then we can do it. So that's 61 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,599 the thing. They want to make this seem as simple 62 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,560 and easy as it possibly can and leave out all 63 00:03:53,759 --> 00:03:56,000 the meat that's going to grind through the system and 64 00:03:56,039 --> 00:03:57,240 take away their writes to vote. 65 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 2: That's right, And you know, you remind me of a 66 00:03:59,719 --> 00:04:03,560 really important fact that some people don't recognize. In nineteen 67 00:04:03,639 --> 00:04:06,240 forty six, this is nineteen years before the Voting Rights 68 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,199 Act of nineteen sixty five was passed, more than half 69 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,719 of black children were not born in hospitals because of segregation, 70 00:04:14,159 --> 00:04:17,839 because of Jim Crow, because of this ignominious history of 71 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,399 discrimination in this country. 72 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 1: That's Michael Steele on the weeknight Monday through Friday at 73 00:04:23,959 --> 00:04:26,360 seven pm Eastern on ms NOW.