Leavitt unloads on Obama over voter ID push, accuses Dems of 'panic'
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is making an example of former President Barack Obama for encouraging voters and lawmakers to reject adopting national voter ID laws.
"You know how badly the Democrats are panicking when they bring out Obama to spread lies about voter ID," Leavitt posted to X Thursday. "The fact is that nearly 90% of voters support" voter ID laws, she continued before posting two screenshots showing two polls reflecting that Americans support such laws at around 83% support to 84% support.
Leavitt's comments follow the House passing a massive election integrity overhaul bill Wednesday, which includes requiring voters to show a photo ID when casting ballots in federal elections. The bill overall aims to prevent noncitizens from voting in U.S. federal elections, with all but one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, voting against it.
Obama was among prominent Democrats encouraging House lawmakers to vote against the measure, claiming it will disenfranchise voters.
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"Republicans are still trying to pass the SAVE Act—a bill that would make it harder to vote and disenfranchise millions of Americans," he posted to X Wednesday evening. "Join @RedistrictAct and tell your member of Congress to vote no."
Democrats have argued that voter ID laws can disenfranchise eligible voters because they often require specific, current government-issued IDs that may be a struggle to obtain due to costs, paperwork hurdles or limited DMV access. Republicans have rejected that argument, calling the requirement a common-sense safeguards that would boost confidence in elections, while simultaneously noting that most Americans already need IDs for everyday tasks.
In another post, Leavitt shared that Obama presented his own driver's license to vote in the 2012 election. Obama voted early that cycle and was seen on camera pulling his Illinois driver's license from his wallet to flash to poll workers.
"Here is Barack Obama showing his photo ID to vote in a past election," Leavitt posted. "Why are Democrats in Congress so opposed to making this a requirement across the country? Voter ID laws are common sense."
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers added that IDs are frequently used by Americans to buy alcohol or get on a plane, which she said shows the hypocrisy of Democrats pushing against the election security overhaul.
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"Barack Obama and the rest of the Democrats think Americans are stupid, which is why they are blatantly lying about the commonsense election integrity provisions in the popular SAVE Act," Rogers told Fox News Digital.
"Americans need to show ID to buy alcohol, get on a plane, and even get into the Democratic National Convention — but these hypocrite Democrats don’t want voters to show their ID to cast a ballot. Congressional Democrats’ opposition to the SAVE America Act is indefensible and wildly out of step with the views of the American people."
Fox News Digital reached out to Obama's office Thursday for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.
Called the SAVE Act, the legislation would additionally require information-sharing between state election officials and federal authorities in verifying citizenship on current voter rolls, as well as enable the Department of Homeland Security to pursue immigration cases if non-citizens were found to be listed as eligible to vote.
If passed, the new requirement could be implemented for the November midterm elections. It must first pass the Senate before it could land on President Donald Trump's desk.