Trump renews push for voter ID

Washington, June 27 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has called for sweeping election reforms, urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and require voters to show photo identification and proof of citizenship.

Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference, Trump said the legislation was needed to protect US elections.

“And now we have to pass the SAVE America Act to protect our sacred American elections,” Trump said.

He said the proposed reforms should include voter identification, citizenship checks and limits on mail-in voting.

“All voters must show photo ID,” Trump said. “All voters must provide proof of citizenship.”

He said mail-in ballots should be allowed only in limited cases.

“We want no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability and military deployment or travel,” Trump said. “We’ll be very judicious.”

Trump criticised Democrats and some Republicans for opposing the measure. He singled out Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

“Where you’re finding the Democrats and a few Republicans who are doing a tremendous disservice to this country,” Trump said. “We have a few Republicans that are fighting it. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.”

He urged supporters to pressure her.

“You should call her and tell her to get on the ball,” Trump said. “She has got to vote. It’s called the SAVE America Act.”

Trump also attacked California’s election system and claimed vote counting there took too long.

“Look what’s happening in California where the ballots still aren’t in,” he said. “They’re still not, can you believe it, weeks afterwards.”

He alleged fraud without providing evidence in the speech.

“You know what’s happened? They’re cheating,” Trump said.

Trump referred to Spencer Pratt and Steve Hilton while criticising the state’s vote-counting process.

“I said they just rigged the election,” Trump said. “And then they tried to hurt Steve Hilton, too.”

He said he had called a US attorney and asked for the matter to be examined.

“I called the US attorney, and I said, you have to look into this because Steve Hilton did great,” Trump said.

Trump contrasted California with Colombia, saying the South American country counted 30 million votes on election night.

“They had 30 million votes; by 9:30 in the evening, every single vote was counted and there were no complaints,” he said.

He argued that long vote counts created opportunities for manipulation.

“How many votes do we need? How many votes? That’s why they take their time,” Trump said.

Trump framed the issue as central to the coming midterm elections. He told supporters they had to turn out and protect what his administration had done.

“Everyone needs to get out and vote in the midterms,” Trump said. “We have to win this election. This election is very vital.”

The President returned to election grievances later in the speech, again saying the 2020 election was rigged.

“But we did it again and we did — we got it right, too big to rig,” Trump said. “We made it too big to rig.”

The election reform remarks came during a broader address focused on religion, immigration, national security, the economy and the 250th anniversary of American independence.

–IANS

lkj/rs