The lower house of the US Congress, the House of Representatives, today adopted a draft election law, promised by Republican President Donald Trump during the campaign, according to which only those who document that they are citizens of the United States of America (USA) can vote in American elections.
Voting rights organizations have warned for years that such a law would deter millions of Americans from voting.
Trump and House Republicans argue that such legislation is necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting. However, this is an extremely rare situation, as numerous cases across the states have shown, and usually involves mistakes rather than a coordinated effort to influence election results.
By the way, federal law already prohibits non-US citizens from voting in US elections. Violators face criminal penalties and possible deportation.
As organizations criticizing the law point out, the problem will be for voters who have registered to participate in the elections, but have to move, change their name, or are otherwise forced to change their registration information.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where, as in the House of Representatives, Republicans have a majority.
However, it is uncertain whether the text will be adopted, because due to the "filibuster" rule, that is, a qualified majority for certain types of legislation, Republicans do not have enough votes to overcome the opposition of opposition Democrats.
In the Senate, 53 seats are held by Republicans and 47 by Democrats.
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