Fact-checking: Representative Ted Budd ‘false’ by claiming that the federal bill will allow minors to vote | WFAE 90.7

The Republican Ted Budd of the 13th Congressional District recently tweeted that he was opposed to a federal suffrage bill introduced by the Democrats of Congress because he said it “allows minors to vote.”

Join us now to determine the WRALs Paul Specht.

Marshall Terry: Paul, the bill to which Budd refers here, is known as the For the People Act. What does the bill contain?

Paul Specht: This is a massive bill. In general, it aims to expand access to voting rights across the country. It is about specific voting rules. And it’s also about a little money in politics. But some of the things that Budd specifically mentioned are about voter ID: they are about extending access to criminals, they are about registering voters and even extending access to the absence of votes – which we are talking about of course during the pandemic last year talked a lot.

Terry: Why did the Congress Democrats introduce this bill?

Woodpecker: Well, they want to remove obstacles for people who are struggling to vote. And you know, across the country, every state has different rules. Each state has different rules for, for example, criminals, as I mentioned, and has different rules for the absence of votes. And so it is the goal to expand access through a new federal law that would cut through some of these state laws.

Terry: So is Budd right when he said that this bill would allow minors to vote?

Woodpecker: No he is not. And Budd, if you read the fact check, you’ll see that he has this tweet that mentions a list of things he does not like. This is a list of four things. And this is the third one that allows minors to vote. And this is the one that is very wrong.

There is nothing in this bill that allows minors to vote. When we got to his office and asked, ‘Hey, where does he get this?’ According to his office, he is referring to a provision that allows 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. And that’s the key word there: pre-register. That does not mean they could vote early. This means that the children can fill in paperwork and get everything in order, so that when the day comes, when they turn 18 and the election does come, everything is ready.

Now there was an amendment proposed by Massachusetts Democratic official Ayanna Pressley. She did propose to lower the voting age, but her amendment failed on a large scale. More than 300 household members voted against the idea so that it does not pass by.

Terry: You said that Budd in his tweet mentioned other things about this bill that he did not like. Like what?

Woodpecker: Now he called the voter ID. He said this bill would eliminate voter ID. And he’s not completely off base here. There are, of course, a number of states that require a photo ID to vote. And what this bill would do was not to eliminate those laws as much as to give people a way around them. And what I mean by that is that people who do not have a photo ID will be able to fill out an affidavit swearing that they are who they say they are when they go to the polls. So there is an element of truth. We just thought that the specific claim about disabling voter ID needed a little more context.

On the next one: he said it would enable criminals to vote. This is also true, but with a small reservation. If anyone was still serving their sentence, they could not vote. But once they serve their sentence, they could vote on this bill.

And lastly, and I thought this one was funny, Budd said it would extend the excuse of absence without apology. And as we mentioned, different states have different rules for who qualifies to get an absent ballot. Well, North Carolina is already a no-apology absent voting state. And what this means is that you do not need an apology, and that you do not need a reason to ask for an absent ballot. In other states you must be working or out of state or have another reason you cannot vote in person. In North Carolina, you do not need such an excuse. Anyone in North Carolina can request an absent ballot.

Terry: Well, let’s go back to the statement made by Congressman Ted Budd that we originally talked about, and that is that this bill will enable minors to vote. How did you rate the claim?

Woodpecker: This is false. There is just no way this is true. He refers to pre-registration, but it does not appear from his tweet. That context is not there. And it stands out among his other assertions in this tweet that the other had some element of truth to them. But this one is simply fake.

Terry: All right, Paul, thank you.

Woodpecker: Thank you for having me.