00:00In the United States, President Donald Trump is seeking to win the midterm elections by
00:04restricting mail-in voting and imposing other limitations, leveraging a law that would grant
00:09him a significant advantage among voters.
00:12Our U.S. correspondent, Enrico Melo, reports.
00:17Amidst high disapproval ratings for his administration and unauthorized military conflicts that have
00:24brought the U.S. economy to the brink of collapse, President Donald Trump is desperately seeking
00:31to ensure a Republican victory in the midterm elections through the controversial Save America
00:39Act.
00:39The Save America Act, that's the full name of the act, involves an effort by the Trump administration
00:47and the Republican Party generally to limit the amount of people that could actually vote
00:54by obligating them to provide a documentation proof of ID of who they are.
01:02And at first blush, that would appear to be logical and a good idea, that everybody,
01:07we should know who is voting.
01:08Currently, that information is collected at the time of voter registration.
01:14And why should they have to take it again when they're voting on the actual date of the election?
01:19That is a scheme by the Republican Party and by the Trump administration to limit the amount of
01:27people that vote because a lot of people don't have a passport handy.
01:32Many people don't own a passport.
01:34They don't travel.
01:34According to data from the Brennan Center, 21 million people in the United States do not have these documents
01:42readily available.
01:44Half of the entire U.S. citizens does not even possess a passport.
01:49And millions of married women who changed their last names would face additional obstacles to voting.
01:57And that's precisely the gist of this law, an attempt to restrict voting among the most economically vulnerable populations.
02:06Currently, obtaining a U.S. passport costs $165 and takes up to three months to be issued,
02:15an expense that many voters simply cannot afford.
02:20It's believed to impact mostly Democrats in Republican states where they would have a real
02:28impact on an election, particularly when Trump's ratings are at record lows.
02:35I believe they're at 36%.
02:37And therefore, the president is looking anxiously for different ways that he can impact the midterm
02:43elections.
02:44Trump insists without evidence that there was fraud in the 2020 elections.
03:00And for this reason, he's calling for the nationalization of elections.
03:05If a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it.
03:10Because, you know, if you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections.
03:15I don't know why the federal government doesn't do them anyway.
03:18Because the Constitution states precisely the opposite.
03:22The states administer elections.
03:24The president plays no role whatsoever.
03:28Although the Safe American Act passed already in the House of Representatives,
03:32the final word on this legislation has not been said yet.
03:36For experts, one thing is clear.
03:39When it comes to Trump, this law is definitely not about electoral transparency,
03:44but rather just another one of his questionable maneuvers
03:48to continue using the presidential power without any checks or balances.
03:56Pablo Daniel Jo and Henry Camelo, TELESUR, New York.
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