Democracy Under Fire: Protests Erupt as Voter Suppression Looms

Protests are taking place across the country, sending a clear message to President Trump.

Protests taking place across the country are telling President Trump that we do not approve of the way he is leading our county. His administration has become so egregious that it has created a loud wake-up call, forcing people into the streets to scream: “ENOUGH!”  

Enough! to letting an unelected bureaucrat barrel through every service department of our government, destroying them irrevocably; beyond repair.  

Enough! to stealing our private information without accountability and with questionable purposes. 

Enough! to taking away consumer protections and dismantling the Department of Education. 

Enough! to threatening universities funding due to DEI practices and basic free-thinking. 

Enough! to black-mailing law firms. 

Enough! to stealing $880 billion from Medicaid to give it to billionaires in the form of tax-breaks. 

Enough! to “disappearing” people, arresting students and judges without due process, protected by our constitutional rights.  

But more than any other right being threatened, the one that holds the reins to all others, the crown jewel of our American dream, the one enshrined in our Constitution with its first words, “We the People,” is the right to vote.  

In March of this year, Trump signed an executive order for the SAVE Act. (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which was later challenged by the courts. As a result, the Republican Congress introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 22) which passed the House on April 10th and is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate.  This law, if enacted, would “require all Americans to prove citizenship with documents unavailable to millions” in order to register to vote. It would effectively usurp the voting rights from approximately 146 million American citizens who do not possess the required documentation as would be required by this law such as a valid passport, birth certificate or social security card. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-save-act-overview-and-facts/ 

In 2024, 153 million Americans voted in the presidential election marking the election as a historic turnout. Future election turnout could be negatively impacted if this bill is signed into law. American Progress explains: “Government-issued driver’s licenses—including REAL IDs—as well as military or tribal IDs do not satisfy the bill’s requirements. The legislation would shift the responsibility and burden to the citizen to verify their eligibility and citizenship status. It would change the way citizens register to vote. It would upend online voter registration, making it impossible to access a mail-in registration application, and would virtually eliminate in-person voter registration drives.” 

The bill would impose an additional obstacle- the fees to obtain passports and birth certificates.  It will also require trips to the post offices, at a time when the USPS has begun shutting down many locations, making access difficult. 

These hurdles are expressly designed to disenfranchise and discourage citizens from voting.  This onslaught is tremendous and purposeful. If Americans lose hope enough to give up our right to vote, we lose our voice to demand services for children, our Veterans, the disabled, and elderly. We risk losing the right to medical care for all of us, affordable food, housing, and good wages. Without these basic services, our entire country could theoretically spiral into extreme poverty. The result of this voiceless scenario would be a true dictatorship. 

This is not as far-fetched as it might seem; just look around and see how many of your friends and neighbors could potentially be impacted.

This is your call to action, contact your Senator and tell them to vote "NO" to voter disenfranchisement. Search the internet, find a protest, and go…every time you can, for as long as you can. Let your voice be heard! 

For 250 years, American citizens have shown up and fought for what we feel is important.  

We cannot quit! This is too important.