Do you know where your birth certificate is? Journalist warns of new voting barriers
New Challenges Emerge for American Voters as Midterms Approach
Do you know where your birth - With fewer than four months remaining until the midterm elections, a cascade of judicial decisions, legal challenges, and legislative proposals is fundamentally altering the landscape of American elections. During its spring session, the Supreme Court substantially reduced the scope and effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act, marking what many consider a pivotal moment in civil rights history.
Ari Berman, a prominent voting rights journalist writing for the progressive outlet Mother Jones, expressed deep concern about these developments. "The Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most important civil rights law of the 1960s, has no teeth left. And that's just the beginning of what they've done in terms of weakening democracy," Berman stated.
Beyond the VRA decision, the Court has made several other significant rulings. In a narrow 5-4 vote, justices preserved mail-in voting access. Simultaneously, they eliminated longstanding restrictions on how much political parties may contribute to candidate campaigns.
Half of all Americans don't have passports. So already there, you're talking about half the country can't comply. Ask the average person, 'Do you know where your birth certificate is?' And a lot of people are gonna struggle to find it.
Meanwhile, President Trump is actively advocating for Congress to enact the SAVE America Act. This proposed legislation would mandate that voters present either a passport or birth certificate when registering, alongside implementing stringent identification requirements for casting ballots.
Berman characterizes the president as being "obsessed with the mechanics of voting." He explained that whenever Trump perceives his party facing electoral defeat, he attempts to alter voting procedures through various means—whether by challenging election outcomes or implementing gerrymandering strategies to safeguard party majorities.
If Republicans lose, he's going to say, 'Well, we didn't have the SAVE Act, therefore the election was rigged.' ... He is creating the predicate for some kind of dramatic intervention to either challenge how people vote, how their votes are counted, or how the elections are ultimately certified.
The journalist views the SAVE America Act as part of a broader strategy to generate skepticism about electoral integrity and potentially contest midterm results. According to Berman, this approach creates groundwork for unprecedented administrative interventions in the voting process.
Berman, author of several influential works including "Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People — and the Fight to Resist It" and "Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America," has expressed particular concern about historical parallels.
Historical Context and Bipartisan Foundations
The Voting Rights Act originally received overwhelming congressional approval in 1965. President Lyndon B. Johnson, a white Southerner, championed the legislation with powerful rhetoric emphasizing that America could not tolerate disenfranchisement based on race. The law underwent four reauthorizations, each time receiving strong bipartisan backing. Notably, every reauthorization was signed into law by a Republican president.
What shifted was the Supreme Court's interpretation. Initially, justices Roberts and Alito, followed by three Trump appointees, moved away from the longstanding bipartisan consensus. This judicial transformation effectively undermined the second Reconstruction era of the 1960s and reversed many civil rights achievements.
My fear is that we are returning to a politics of Jim Crow in the South. We are returning a politics white supremacy in the South. And the decision destroying the Voting Rights Act doesn't just weaken the country's most important civil rights law, it really weakens the entire project of multiracial democracy.
The Louisiana v. Calais ruling in late April delivered what many described as a fatal blow to the Voting Rights Act. This decision effectively eliminated majority-minority districts, allowing Black voters and other people of color to elect their preferred candidates. In response, Southern states including Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama have engaged in rapid redistricting efforts to minimize minority electoral influence.
Berman's concerns extend beyond immediate legal changes. He worries that these developments represent a broader regression toward segregated political structures and white supremacist governance patterns that characterized the Jim Crow era. The cumulative effect threatens not only voting rights specifically but also the foundation of multiracial democratic participation across the nation.