In Colorado, an electricity bill was enough to vote. Conversely, showing your driving license with photo could come up against an absurd response: “We are not allowed to watch this document. »» America from voting to the good Franquette, where each state fixes its own rules may belong to the past. Donald Trump wants to impose an identity card on each voter and reduce voting by correspondence to extreme cases: military and sick. An electoral revolution that fractures the country one year of midterms.
The measure is anything but harmless: it centralizes electoral rules which have so far been local authorities. In a jealous federation of its prerogatives, this rupture is historic. The United States has never had a national identity card. Each jurisdiction sets its own criteria: here a piece with photo, there a simple proof of residence. From the pandemic, the correspondence vote has developed massively, accentuating these disparities. Thirty-six states already impose a form of identification, but with very variable degrees of rigor.
Trump loves to mock this “Electoral chaos”. In his presidential campaign meetings in 2024, he often quoted France as an example: “Only one paper bulletin, an identity card, and the results at 8 pm! »» In its mouth, hexagon is the perfect counter-model: centralized a thousand leagues from the exploded America where each state plays its score.
Standoff
The question of the right to vote has been at the heart of American political life for over a century. After the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws had multiplied the obstacles to discourage black voters: reading tests, taxes, arbitrary deadlines. The 1965 voting Rights Act had ended these practices. But since the 2000s, under the leadership of Republican elected officials, many states have reintroduced strict identification requirements.
On the right, supporters of the decree speak of necessity. “An identity document to vote is common sense, and it prevents electoral fraud”already said Matt Schultz, former secretary of state of Iowa, which has become the benchmark for the Republican camp on this file.
The showdown should take a legal turn. Because Trump has the right to change the rules of the game? Already, in March, a decree imposing proof of citizenship at registration had been blocked by federal judges. Twenty Democratic States have already seized justice, denouncing a “Attempt to federalize elections”. The file should go back to the Supreme Court, dominated by the Conservatives. If the high jurisdiction validates the measure, it would create a major precedent: a president has never yet imposed his own electoral rules on the whole country.
The stake is clear: lock the system for the presidential election 2028
On the ground, the effects are felt. Obtaining an identity document is not easy for millions of Americans. The passport is expensive ($ 160) and only half of the population has one. Driving license remains the main tool, but many do not pass it, especially in major cities. The queues in front of certain municipal counters to obtain a local identity card lengthen. Already claimed since May 7 to board by plane, it could now become the essential sesame to vote.
One year before the mid-term election, the “Voting ID” decree could change the situation. The Brennan Center for Justice studies show that 11 % of black voters and a large part of Latinos, students and the elderly do not have valid papers. However, these groups still vote mainly democratic. The left sees it as a way of restricting their participation and providing Republicans with a decisive advantage in the key states. Worse: she sees in this future decree a discriminating measure!
In 2020, Georgia had played at less than 12,000 votes. With a strict vote, the result could have changed. That’s the challenge: to transform the midterms as a life -size test of a tight electoral system. Even if the courts block the decree, Trump will have scored points. He will have imposed his story: that of the fraud to stem.
Beyond midtermsthe challenge is clear: it is a question of locking the system for the presidential election of 2028. The Republicans hope for a lasting effect, a reduced but more favorable electorate. Democrats, they speak of a “Crazy coup”. Opinion, for the moment, follows Trump. According to several polls, a majority of Americans supports his initiative. But another America, that of minorities and precarious people, sees it as a blow to its civil rights. With, basically, this idea: who controls the vote controls the country.
