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U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to push through the SAVE America act in a desperate bid to wrestle control of the upcoming November midterm elections, yet while it remains controversial in its implementation, it could offer a significant transformation for your smartphone's digital wallet.
Right now, providing you're in a state that supports the implementation, you can place a REAL ID-compliant driver's licence in your Apple Wallet, which has prompted people to believe that the time has finally come to ditch your physical card holder in place of your iPhone.
After all, if you've got your ID and all of your bank cards on your phone then there's little reason to have to carry physical versions — and the same would even apply in the case of voting laws that require you to show identification before casting your ballot.
Things could soon change if President Trump gets his way with the SAVE Act, however, as it would not only require voters to provide relevant identification to prove they are who they say they are – a policy that is broadly popular across the nation – but you'd also need to show certification that you are indeed a U.S. citizen.
As reported by the BBC, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been pushed by President Donald Trump as a 'national emergency', as he believes that it's necessary to secure elections going forward.
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What it would predominantly change would be the requirement to show valid photo identification and proof of U.S. citizenship when voting, and any elected official that is 'caught' registering a voter without obtaining citizenship proof could face criminal penalties.
It technically doesn't change the legal definition of the legal voting system, as federal law has consistently stated that you need citizenship in order to cast a vote, but in requiring proof it makes the system potentially more complicated for many.
Rough estimates indicate that around 21 million Americans don't have access to documents that would prove their citizenship and cannot easily obtain them, effectively ruling them out from exercising their right to vote despite remaining eligible.
It also makes it more difficult for people who have changed their names since birth to vote, requiring the submission of additional documents to be eligible, which would disproportionately impact women who change their surname after marriage.
In a bid to maintain the same seamless all-in-one package of your Apple Wallet, tech companies could soon implement a way to integrate proof of citizenship into your wallet for easy access in response to the SAVE Act.
Right now, REAL ID-compliant documentation only proves that you are who you say you are and not that you're a legal citizen, and while companies like Apple wouldn't need to adapt their systems to comply with the potential new ruling, they might be motivated to do so in order to keep up with the times.
Whether the SAVE Act actually gets passed is another question, however, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune has avoided the prospect of commencing a vote for the time being, and many political commentators have cast doubt that, even if passed, it would be ready to go by the November midterms.
