Bill Dalton: Trump's list

Welcome to the next Russia.

OK, maybe it isn’t quite as bad here as in Russia. But just wait. Your U.S. Supreme Court just brought the United States another step closer to tyranny.

The Supremes last week made a major ruling regarding this year’s election, a mere six weeks away. You probably didn't hear much about it because court decisions are always complicated, but allow me to put this one in plain English: Donald Trump will now decide whether you can vote or not.

Does that scare you? Or make you happy?

The high court approved Trump’s plan to use a nationwide online system of citizenship data, including the Social Security numbers of millions of Americans, that would allow state election officials to hunt for ineligible voters.

Do you like all of your personal information sitting in a national government database — which I’m calling “Trump’s List” — waiting to be hacked? The next logical step, of course, is a national ID card. After that, perhaps a number tattooed on your arm? (You don't need a chip implanted; you're already holding an iPhone in your hand.)

Critics of the court’s decision worry that some states — more likely red ones than blue ones — will use “Trump’s List” to purge valid voters from their rolls before the midterm elections. Three of the justices who disagreed with the ruling also predicted it might force some citizens, maybe even you, to prove they’re a citizen before voting.

Do you know where your birth certificate is? Can you find it quickly? Do you have a passport? Only about 50 percent of Americans do. Even a Real ID driver’s license doesn’t prove you’re a citizen unless you live in one of only five states.

Critics also believe a lot of the information on “Trump’s List” — put together by the always trustworthy Department of Homeland Security (the same people who oversee ICE) — is unreliable. They also believe this is a solution in search of a problem. Despite Trump’s lame assertions that voter fraud is widespread, there’s no evidence that is true.

In fact, Texas used “Trump’s List” recently to run checks on more than 18 million voters. Out of 18 million, they found a whopping 117 that might — might — be noncitizens who voted. In Nevada, out of 185 names the Department of Homeland Security flagged as noncitizens on voter rolls state officials found zero were illegals.

Is it worth disenfranchising tens of thousands of real citizens to find the handful who shouldn’t be voting? It is to Trump, who worries those tens of thousands might vote for a Democrat in November.

The only speed bump for “Trump’s List” is a 1993 federal law requiring a 90‑day quiet period for systematic, mass purging of ineligible voters before an election.

But when has the law ever stopped Trump? As you might expect, it’s already being challenged before the — you guessed it — U.S. Supreme Court. The Justice Department is arguing it can remove individual voters flagged by federal databases right up to Election Day.

If you still think it’s OK that U.S. citizens are discouraged from voting because you prefer that Republicans remain in power, just remember what happens in countries that stifle political opposition.

Recently there was a national election in Russia. You also probably didn’t hear much about it because everybody knew the results before anyone voted. The pro-Kremlin United Russia party retained its supermajority in the Dumas (our version of Congress). Shocker.

Political observers in Russia said they could hardly tell a major election was taking place. There were only a few campaign posters. No rallies. Candidates skipped debates because they knew they were pointless.

Unwanted candidates and the liberal Yabloko party, which opposes the war in Ukraine, had already been removed from the ballot. And just to be sure, the Kremlin uses online voting in more than one-third of Russia’s regions, allowing the government to alter the numbers if needed, which is a lot easier to do online than with paper ballots.

Needless to say, Vladimir Putin — a dictator Trump often admires — was happy with the results keeping him in power.

Trump might be happy in November, too, thanks to the latest court ruling.

Unless Americans who are eligible to vote show up in huge numbers and tell the U.S. Supreme Court to shove “Trump’s List” where the sun doesn’t shine.

If they don’t, you might want to start brushing up on your Russian.

— Bill Dalton is a former reporter and editor for The Kansas City Star and worked for several Michigan newspapers. He spends summers on the family farm near Fennville. His novel “The Bank Game” is available from Amazon along with “Dalton’s Bend.”