FUBAR
Voter Registration SNAFU in Missouri... and across America.
Before you start reading- I’d like you all to try something out here-
I’m adding a podcast styled synopsis of this article for you all that don’t like to read ;) Drop a comment below and let me know if this type of content is something that is better for you than the long, article styled product.
I’m not going to stop with long form- but if enough folks like this… I will continue this two pronged approach.
So here we go!
This isn’t a woman’s issue.
This isn’t a Democrat issue.
This is a YOU issue.
Last night I was at the Lake Area Federation Meeting.
A candidate running for Congressional District 4 was there, Jordan Herrera. He brought up the SAVE Act.
The room was already irritated just hearing the name.
But it gave me pause.
Some folks in that room were under the impression that their voter registration card and their driver’s license would be enough.
They’ll be just fine…
Out here, information doesn’t always travel fast.
And that’s exactly how something this important slips through the cracks.
They won’t be.
And I need to make that as loud and as clear as I possibly can.
A draft executive order has been circulating inside Trump’s orbit — and when you read what’s in it, your jaw will drop.
The 17-page document, reviewed in full by PBS News, proposes that every registered voter in America would have to re-register before the 2026 midterm elections.
Every single one of us.
Gone.
Start over.
And this time, you’d have to prove your citizenship with documents most people don’t have sitting on the kitchen table.
Trump denied it when reporters asked him directly.
When PBS asked him about it, his exact response was “Who told you that?”
But one of the men who drafted it — a Florida attorney who has known Trump personally for decades — confirmed to reporters that it has been circulating “for a while now” among the president’s supporters.
Sound familiar? He said the same thing about Project 2025. Never read it. Nothing to do with it. Didn’t even know what it was. Then spent his first year in office checking off its wish list one item at a time.
He’s slipperier than a damned Catfish…
What the Draft Order Actually Says
Here’s what’s in it, based on reporting from PBS News and the Washington Post:
Wipe all existing voter registrations.
Everyone re-registers for 2026.
Proof of citizenship required to re-register.
Think passport or birth certificate.
All ballots must be hand-marked and hand-counted in public.
Election experts say hand-counting is slower and more error-prone than machines.
Mail-in voting severely restricted.
Active military, disability, illness, or travel only.
Federal agencies
Including DHS, Justice, SSA, and the Postal Service — given power to flag and remove voters from rolls.
The White House says this hasn’t been signed.
Trump denied it when asked.
But he’s also posted on Truth Social that voter ID will happen before the midterms “whether approved by Congress or not,” and promised to issue an executive order.
Courts have already blocked his first voting executive order from 2025, ruling it exceeded presidential authority. A second one would face the same fight — but the chaos alone could suppress millions of votes before any judge acts.
2 Sides Of The Same Coin
The draft order doesn’t stand alone.
It runs alongside the SAVE America Act, which passed the House on February 11, 2026 — 218 to 213.
Five votes.
That’s it.
This bill would require every American to show a passport or birth certificate — in person — every time they register or update their voter registration.
Move across town?
You need to show up with your papers.
Change your name?
Same deal.
Here’s the number that matters: more than 21 million American citizens don’t have ready access to those documents, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Roughly half of Americans don’t even own a passport.
Today — Here’s Where We Stand
Before we talk about what’s coming, let’s be clear about what’s true right now.
Today, in Missouri, registering to vote is straightforward. You fill out an application. You provide your Missouri driver’s license number or state ID number. You swear under penalty of perjury that you are a U.S. citizen. Done. No passport. No birth certificate. No trip to a government office with a stack of documents. Your word, backed by law, is enough.
That’s how it works today.
The second the SAVE Act is signed into law — or the second that executive order hits — you are FUBAR’d. Every Missourian.
Every registered voter.
Starting from zero, with documents most people don’t have ready to hand.
So What About Your Driver’s License?
This is the part I need you to hear.
This is what people got wrong last night.
Your Missouri driver’s license will not be enough.
Your Missouri Enhanced ID will not be enough either.
Missouri’s Enhanced ID is not the same as an enhanced driver’s license that indicates citizenship.
Only five states issue that kind of ID — Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington.
Missouri is not one of them.
PolitiFact found no evidence that Missouri issues any ID that meets the citizenship proof required by the SAVE Act. None.
Your Missouri driver’s license proves who you are.
Your Missouri Enhanced ID proves who you are. Neither one proves you’re an American citizen. Under these rules, that distinction is everything.
To re-register, you would need one of these:
• A U.S. passport or passport card
• A birth certificate plus a valid photo ID
• Naturalization papers
That’s it. No exceptions for people who don’t have those things. No grandfather clause for someone who’s been registered for 30 years. No workaround for folks whose documents are buried in a box in the spare bedroom — or lost entirely.
Your voter registration card? Also not enough. It proves you were registered. Under these rules, that registration gets wiped. You start from zero.
And online voter registration? Gone. Mail-in registration? Gone. Community voter drives at churches, libraries, and county fairs? Gone — because election workers can’t accept copies of documents, and volunteers can’t haul your originals around town.
The bill also orders states to purge voter rolls every 30 days, eliminating the current 90-day quiet period that protects voters from being wrongly removed right before Election Day.
What We Can Do Right Now
The SAVE America Act is sitting in the Senate.
It needs 60 votes to pass — that means it needs Democrats to cross over, and right now the math isn’t there.
One Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has already come out against it.
But Trump has made clear he may act by executive order regardless of what Congress does.
And we’ve seen what happens when that order hits:
chaos,
lawsuits, and
confusion — all of which suppress turnout.
Here’s how to protect yourself and your neighbors:
They are not hiding what they’re doing. They’re betting you won’t pay attention until it’s too late.
I’m paying attention. And now you are too.
Cody “Hutch” Hutcheson is a 20-year Air Force veteran and Democratic candidate for Missouri House District 123. Her campaign slogan is “Put People First. Always.” Learn more and get involved at electhutchmo123@gmail.com.
Bibliography:
PBS NewsHour — “Trump says he’s not mulling a draft executive order to seize control over elections. Here’s what we know” — February/March 2026 — https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-hes-not-mulling-a-draft-executive-order-to-seize-control-over-elections-heres-what-we-know
Washington Post — “Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency” — February 26, 2026 — https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/26/trump-elections-executive-order-activists/
Brennan Center for Justice — “SAVE Act Would Undermine Voter Registration for All Americans” — https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/save-act-would-undermine-voter-registration-all-americans
Brennan Center for Justice — “New SAVE Act Bills Would Still Block Millions of Americans From Voting” — https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting
Campaign Legal Center — “What You Need to Know About the SAVE Act” — https://campaignlegal.org/update/what-you-need-know-about-save-act
Center for American Progress — “The SAVE America Act Explained” — https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-save-america-act-explained-how-the-new-show-your-papers-voting-bill-is-even-more-extreme-than-the-save-act/
NPR — “A Republican plan to overhaul voting is back. Here’s what’s new in the bill” — February 19, 2026 — https://www.npr.org/2026/02/19/nx-s1-5719252/trump-voting-save-america-act-explainer
NPR — “President Trump is trying to make it harder to vote. Here’s why that matters” — March 3, 2026 — https://www.npr.org/2026/03/03/nx-s1-5734005/president-trump-is-trying-to-make-it-harder-to-vote-heres-why-that-matters
PolitiFact — “Can voters use REAL ID to register to vote under GOP bill?” — https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/apr/18/byron-donalds/can-voters-use-real-id-to-vote-under-save-act/
PolitiFact — “SAVE Act would make it harder, not impossible, for married women to vote” — February 17, 2025 — https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/feb/17/tiktok-posts/save-act-would-make-it-harder-not-impossible-for-m/
FactCheck.org — “Will SAVE Act Prevent Married Women from Registering to Vote?” — https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/will-save-act-prevent-married-women-from-registering-to-vote/
FactCheck.org — “Q&A on the SAVE America Act” — March 2026 — https://www.factcheck.org/2026/03/qa-on-the-save-america-act/
Congress.gov — “H.R.22 — SAVE Act, 119th Congress” — https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22
CNBC — “Trump says he will issue executive order to get voter-ID requirements before midterms” — February 13, 2026 — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/13/trump-congress-voter-id-midterms.html
NPR — “Trump has rolled out many of the Project 2025 policies he once claimed ignorance about” — January 19, 2026 — https://www.npr.org/2026/01/19/nx-s1-5640006/trump-has-rolled-out-many-of-the-project-2025-policies-he-once-claimed-ignorance-about
Great article! My goal is to help people obtain birth certificates. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Excellent! A lot of this is to disfranchise women. Also—even if mail-in ballots are allowed, we no longer have control of when our mail is postmarked. Coincidence, I think not!!!