Tea Party Patriot co-founder and election denial activist Jenny Beth Martin appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Saturday to advocate for her plan to advance a stalled anti-voting rights bill by attaching it to must-pass legislation next month. Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, claimed that Martin’s campaign has the White House’s blessing.
“President Trump is a big fan of what you’re doing,” Bannon said.
Martin was arguing in favor of the SAVE Act, which would require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Voting rights advocates at the Brennan Center argue that the bill, which has passed the House of Representatives but hasn’t been voted on in the Senate, would “devastate voter registration while disenfranchising tens of millions of eligible American citizens.” They estimate that over 21 million U.S. citizens don’t have the proper documentation mandated by the bill, which in many cases would apply to people who are reregistering or have moved, not just first-time voters.
Some experts also warn that the SAVE Act could disenfranchise millions of married people, predominantly women, who have changed their last name and therefore have current legal documents that don’t match the name on their birth certificate. Discrepancies like that could also prevent trans people from being able to cast a ballot.
The timing of Martin’s appearance on War Room is significant. The fiscal year ends on September 30, and Congress will need to pass funding legislation before then to avoid a government shutdown. Martin is eyeing that yet-to-be-determined bill as a vehicle to move the SAVE Act through the upper chamber.
“We need the Senate to take action,” Martin said. “And our goal is to get it attached to must-pass legislation in September as they’re dealing with government funding.”
Martin spoke to Bannon from Corpus Christi, Texas, as part of a cross-country barnstorming campaign dubbed the “Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour.”
One of Martin’s fellow voter-suppression activists, identified only as Annie, also appeared during the interview, displaying a sign that signaled the effort’s expansive vision beyond just the SAVE Act.
“We want: only citizens, one-day voting, vote in person, voter ID, paper ballots, and, of course, let’s ban the mail-ins,” Annie said.
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