Blacks will be hurt if the WRECK America Act passses

Yahoo  -   The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a Republican-backed bill that passed the House and is currently being debated in the Senate, would require people to show proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, to register to vote and to provide photo identification at the polls. Voting rights advocates say that the measure, known as the SAVE America Act, would narrow ballot access, especially for Black communities.

Some 21 million voting-age Americans don’t have readily available proof of citizenship, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. But the burden of this lack hits Black Americans with particular force.

While birth certificates are frequently viewed as universal, access to them is uneven, especially for Black Americans born in the Jim Crow South. One-fifth of Black Americans born in 1939 and 1940 were never issued birth certificates, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. And only about one-third of Black Americans have passports, while half of all American adults do.