Will Trump succeed in changing the US voting system?

**Justin Webb** (0:00)
Would you like the opportunity to see a live episode of Americast on Saturday, the 25th of April. The BBC is going to celebrate some of the biggest podcasts. We're gonna do it live in the Maida Vale Studios in London. It is gonna be called Cast Fest. I will be there, Marianna will be there, Sarah and Anthony as well. So you can watch Americast, you can say hello, you can ask us questions if you want to. And indeed, if you think you can do a better job than we do, you can try your own hand at recording your own mini podcast. The best bit is the tickets are free and if you like our other sister podcasts like Newscast and The Global Story and plenty of others as well, you can see them all being made too. They will all be there. So for tickets, follow the link in the episode description. Now on with the episode. If there's one thing you know about Donald Trump, you know that he believes American elections, particularly the ones he's been involved in are fraudulent. He is now proposing big changes to the way that America votes, how elections are held in the US. He says these changes are so important that he won't sign any other legislation until his voting changes are passed by Congress. There is a problem though. He's made the decision to tie these proposals to funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which the Democrats are currently blocking in protest against immigration enforcement. So what is behind the deadlock in Congress over funding for Homeland Security? Why is the president telling Republicans to refuse a deal on all of these things? And what does it say about the future of elections in the US? What are the pros and cons of what Donald Trump is actually suggesting? Welcome to AmeriCast.

**Anthony Zurcher** (1:42)
AmeriCast. AmeriCast from BBC News.

**Donald Trump** (1:45)
You hear that sound? Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:50)
We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it.

**Justin Webb** (1:57)
This guy has Trump Derangement Syndrome.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:00)
I have four words for you.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:03)
Turn the volume up.

**Justin Webb** (2:09)
Hello, it's Justin in the fair West Country city of Bath.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:14)
And it's Anthony, and I'm going to call this the worldwide headquarters now, since you're not in London, of AmeriCast in Washington DC.

**Justin Webb** (2:21)
Temporary worldwide headquarters. I think I'd probably accept that, but no more than it. Anthony, here's a question to start, though. You're not there for long, are you? You're about to get on a flight.
How long before you're on it? In theory, at least.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:33)
I've got about three hours before my flight takes off, maybe about two hour and a half hours until I board. And honestly, I'm a little nervous because there have been massive delays at some security checkpoints at airports around the country because the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down, lacked funding for 40 days now. And that means that security guards at the airports are working without pay. And a lot of them just aren't showing up to work. So lines are stretching out the door at airports, waits in places like Houston are going on to four hours. It is chaos. And I'm going to experience that firsthand as I fly back to Texas for a political conference in Dallas.

**Justin Webb** (3:17)
And the whole thing gummed up by the Democrats' objections to this bill that Donald Trump says is so important, it passed the House, didn't it? So it's gone halfway, but it's clogged up in the Senate. What does the bill do?

**Anthony Zurcher** (3:33)
There's a couple of things to unpack here. The bill you're talking about is called the Save America Act, which is election law reforms that Republicans want to pass.
And some key provisions of this are a nationwide mandate for ID in order to cast a ballot. And also a requirement that whenever you register to vote in this country, you have to prove your citizenship, either with a birth certificate or a passport. It bans voting by mail except in certain specific cases like military overseas or illness. It also prevents you from registering outside of a voting office, a government office. So you see these voter registration drives on college campuses where people register voters who are walking between classes or at malls. All of that would end.

**Justin Webb** (4:26)
Right. That's very clear. That's what Trump wants. Why is it that the Democrats feel so strongly about this? Why is it that they can't come to some kind of a deal? What is it that they feel is so important about the act not passing?