Fixing a problem that doesn't exist

Civics 101

NHPR

Society & Culture, Government, History

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The SAVE Act passed the House in April, 2025. As it awaits consideration in Congress, we spoke with Jason Carter from the Carter Center. Yes, like that Carter. Jason is asking why Congress is working on a vanishingly rare problem: noncitizen voting. The SAVE Act, if it becomes law, will require additional proof of citizenship for all Americans seeking to register -- or reregister -- to vote. The goal? To stop all noncitizens from voting -- which rarely happens. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everyone, just a quick and exciting note before today's episode. We have a new Civics 101
0:06.3	tote bag thank you gift. It's my favorite one yet because it defines the separation of powers
0:11.7	in big, bold letters. For a one-time $60 donation or $5 a month, you too can share this
0:18.7	definition with anyone you meet in the world who you think
0:21.4	might need to know it. Click the link in the show notes to take a look at it or go to our website
0:26.0	civics 101podcast.org. And thank you so much for listening. Keep doing it. This is Civics 101.
0:32.9	I'm Hannah McCarthy. I'm Nick Cappadice. Nick, you know what I've been singing to myself a lot lately?
0:42.6	Well, it could be any number of things, Hannah. Is it Stephen Sondheim? It's not always Sondheim,
0:50.5	Nick. It usually is. What I have been singing a lot lately is, I have confidence from
0:56.9	the sound of music. And I'm not sure if I'm allowed to sing it here for copyright reasons. However,
1:02.0	the line that keeps coming to me is, uh, all I trust, I leave my heart to, all I trust becomes my
1:10.1	own. I have confidence and confidence alone.
1:14.6	I wish you could sing it. I really do. That Julie Andrews is a treasure. She is. But you know what I think
1:22.0	it is for me, Nick? We know that a lot of people say they have lost trust.
1:28.4	They have lost confidence.
1:30.9	In the whole lot of it, the whole system, all the people, be they sitting on Capitol Hill or down the street from us.
1:37.1	And to that, I say Fooey.
1:39.5	Where did you get that one from?
1:41.3	Experience?
1:42.4	Yeah, well, sure.
1:43.0	But Nick, what if that experience isn't what we think it is?
1:48.1	What if that mistrust is misplaced?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NHPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NHPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.