Tag: voter id

Republicans fail to attach SAVE America Act to party-line funding package

A cohort of Senate Republicans joined Democrats to sink a late-night attempt to attach a version of voter ID and citizenship verification legislation to the GOP’s bill funding federal immigration enforcement.

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act early Thursday morning.

Their defection came during the Senate’s marathon “vote-a-rama,” where lawmakers could force votes on any number of amendments, regardless of whether they mesh with the underlying budget blueprint.

The amendment’s 48-to-50 failure crystallized what several Republicans had warned for weeks before launching a quasi-floor takeover to debate the SAVE America Act last month — it didn’t have the support among the GOP to pass.

It appears the proposal was doomed even if Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., launched an oral filibuster to advance the measure with a simple 50-vote majority.

Still, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushed his version of the SAVE America Act after threatening to hold up the process until Thursday.

Kennedy acknowledged that his effort may not comport with the strict Senate rules that guide the reconciliation process, known as the Byrd Rule, but countered that critics of his move “can’t predict the future.”

“I respect everybody in this body, everybody,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor. “If you vote against this bill, I’m not going to say a word. And I’m sure as hell not going to go on social media and call you an ignorant slut. That’s not the way I roll, unless I’m pushed too far.”

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These 4 States Already Enacted SAVE Act Look-Alikes While John Thune Does Failure Theater

While the SAVE America Act continues to languish in the Senate under the supervision of Republican Leader John Thune, leaders and voters in several states have taken it upon themselves to secure their own elections from noncitizen voting.

The overwhelmingly popular SAVE America Act would amend U.S. election law to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and voter ID when casting a ballot in federal elections. Federal lawmakers in the GOP-led Senate have yet to advance the common-sense legislation or commit to a “talking filibuster” that would allow it to pass with a simple majority. Meanwhile, within recent weeks, several states enacted their own citizenship verification election laws. Others are set to vote on amendment language clarifying that “only” U.S. citizens can vote in elections.

Already Law

Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s own version of the SAVE Act into law last week. The law, which requires citizenship verification against REAL ID data when registering to vote, will go into effect in January of next year.

According to DeSantis’ office, the law also allows applicants to present proof confirming their eligibility, “establishes a clear process to identify and remove potentially ineligible noncitizens from voter rolls,” includes “explicit notice that submitting false voter registration information is a felony,” and mandates voting take place on paper ballots.

The state has adopted a number of election reforms since 2020, including stronger vote-by-mail safeguards, more secure ballot drop boxes, and stricter enforcement of election law, as DeSantis’ office noted.

Mississippi

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also signed election integrity legislation into law last week. Named the Safeguard Honesty Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act, the law requires registration officials to check certain applicants’ information against the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to determine if they are citizens. This verification is required for registration applicants who are flagged as potential noncitizens or who do not provide their driver’s license number when registering to vote. As in Florida, if an applicant is determined to be a potential noncitizen, he will be given a chance to present documentation that proves citizenship.

The law also requires the registrar to annually report to the secretary of state “[t]he number of registrants flagged by a SAVE system check” and the number taken off the rolls “following confirmation.”

This law will take effect in July, ahead of the 2026 midterms.

South Dakota

Ironically, Thune’s own state has moved faster than he has when it comes to ensuring only Americans vote in American elections. Gov. Larry Rhoden signed South Dakota’s SB 175 into law last month. According to SDPB Radio, the legislation “requires anyone registering to vote for the first time in the state to provide proof of citizenship,” like a driver’s license issued after July 1, 2025 (the state recently enacted a law mandating that citizenship status be denoted on driver’s licenses), or a copy of a birth certificate.

“In South Dakota, we do things right, especially when running our state elections,” Rhoden said in a statement. “This bill ensures only citizens vote in state elections, keeping our elections safe and secure.”

This law went into effect immediately.

Utah

Gov. Spencer Cox signed Utah’s HB 209 into law late last month, and it is set to take effect on May 6 — more than a month before the state’s primary election. The law requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote in state elections. If an applicant registers to vote using a “federal voter registration form” and does not provide documentary proof of citizenship as laid out in the law, that voter can only vote in federal races.

The law also dictates that “a review of voter registration records be conducted by July 1 this year,” as Time summarized it. Voters who are already registered but “whose citizenship cannot be verified in that review will be notified by election officials and have to provide proof of citizenship to stay on the rolls.”

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An Obama-Appointed Judge Might Have Delivered a Huge Blow to Dems’ Anti-Voter ID Pushes

While Congress is working out ways to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the core principles of the SAVE America Act are next. With the Democratic Party’s intransigence, there’s talk of including some of these provisions in a future reconciliation package, which will also fund ICE and Border Patrol—frontline officers are getting paid, but the civilian support staff is not right now. The issue surrounding voter ID is over: everyone supports it. 

Overall, the Save Act has a 71 percent approval rating from a Harvard poll. On voter ID specifically, it holds similar approval figures across the board. It’s been that way since the Obama administration. It’s a popular policy that some Democrats have labeled Jim Crow 2.0. Well, in North Carolina, years of litigation have been settled on that state’s voter ID law, and it’s not good for Democrats. Oh, and this ruling was handed down by an Obama-appointed judge.

A federal judge has upheld North Carolina’s voter identification law nearly two years after holding a trial in a lawsuit challenging the ID requirement. The same judge had blocked the law from taking effect for the 2020 election cycle. 

Her initial ruling against voter ID helped delay implementation of the ID law until 2023. 

State lawmakers approved the ID law in 2018 after voters approved a state constitutional amendment enshrining voter ID in North Carolina’s governing document.

“Finally. After seven years, we can put to rest any doubt that our state’s Voter I.D. law is constitutional,” state Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a prepared statement Thursday. “This is a monumental win for the citizens of North Carolina and election integrity efforts.” 

“[It is important that this Court begins by recognizing what this case is, and what it is not,” US District Judge Loretta Biggs in her 134-page order Thursday. “This case is not about whether North Carolina law will require that voters show photo identification when they go to the polls. That question was settled on November 6, 2018, when approximately 55% of North Carolina’s registered voters enshrined a photo voter identification requirement in the State Constitution.” 

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Democrats Kill Simple Voter ID Amendment Requiring Photo ID to Cast a Ballot

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a common-sense amendment that would have required voters to show a simple photo ID to cast a ballot.

Despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s recent “pinky-promise” that Democrats aren’t actually opposed to ID requirements, his party voted in lockstep to kill the measure, according to CBS News.

The amendment failed to reach the 60-vote threshold, dying in a 53 to 47 vote. The radical Left once again chose to keep the door wide open for potential fraud.

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BEYOND PARODY: Connecticut Democrats Pass Bill Requiring Photo ID to RECYCLE CANS But Won’t Support the SAVE America Act

Democrats in the state of Connecticut oppose the SAVE America Act because they don’t support the idea of having to show a photo ID in order to vote, but they recently passed a law in the state that requires photo ID to recycle aluminum cans.

You could not make this up.

Like some other states, Connecticut gives a ten cent return on empty containers instead of five cents, so people have been crossing into the state to recycle there and cash in on the higher return. The fix for this was photo ID.

But they won’t do this for voting.

FOX News reports:

Connecticut Dems demand IDs to recycle cans but reject GOP efforts to verify citizenship at polls

Connecticut Democrats recently rushed through an emergency anti-fraud law requiring bottle redemption centers to collect a copy of a person’s driver’s license when they cash in more than 1,000 cans or bottles in a day — a document demand that Republicans say undercuts the party’s attacks on voter-ID rules.

Earlier this month, an emergency certification bill, SB 299, was introduced by top Democratic leaders in the state’s legislature. It was later passed in both chambers in late February and was signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, on March 3.

It requires people wishing to recycle cans for money to present a copy of their driver’s license, put in place because the state has had issues with non-residents crossing its border to take advantage of its higher return rate of 10 cents a can instead of five cents. The issue was reportedly causing the state to lose significant revenue…

“In Connecticut, it seems that they are committed to securing recycling, but not to securing elections,” said Anna Pingel, America First Policy Institute’s Campaign Director for Secure Elections. “Requiring photo ID to collect cash from recycling but opposing photo ID to cast a vote tells you everything you need to know about the hypocrisy of politicians fighting against commonsense legislation like the SAVE Act. What is more important to safeguard—bottles or ballots?”

Both of Connecticut’s senators voted against the SAVE America Act.

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Democrat Is Shocked to Learn CA Bans Voter ID Requirements

In a conversation with Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA), a Democrat, and ESPN analyst, Stephen A. Smith was shocked to learn that not only does the state of California not have any voter ID requirements for its elections, but it has even barred counties from imposing their own ID rules.

“I think the fact that we don’t have voter ID in places like California is extremely unusual in democracies across the globe,” Kiley said. “There’s maybe like two or three democracies in the world that don’t have it. This is just kind of like a administrative requirement in a well-functioning democracy. So I think we should just have it. We should get this out and move on with our lives. It shouldn’t be a big controversial issue.”

“It’s excuse me for being so ignorant, this is definitely my last question,” Smith replied. “What do you mean you don’t have voter ID in California. Could you please elaborate specifically on that for my audience that may not know?”

“Yeah, California does not have voter ID,” Rep. Kiley replied. “You don’t need to present it to register. You don’t need to present it to vote. As a matter of fact, the past, the state passed a law forbidding voter ID so, so cities, counties… “

“Forbidding?!” Smith exclaimed.

“They’re not allowed to under state law.”

“What, when did that happen?!”

“A couple of years ago? Because I think it was Orange County. They wanted to have their own requirements of the state passed a law saying, no, you’re not allowed to you,” Kiley said. “Voter ID is not only not required. It is actively forbidden.”

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Top Democrat Accidentally Reveals What Her Party Really Fears in the SAVE Act

Republicans successfully brought the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor for debate on Tuesday, and Democrats sure do sound like they’re in full panic mode. The talking points were predictable, and we’ve heard them all before — the usual accusations of disenfranchisement, minorities unable to get IDs, married women losing access to the ballot, and their new favorite line about getting passports. Bogus fear-mongering, all of it. These concerns are literally all addressed in the text of the bill itself. So what’s the real reason they’re opposing it?

I’ve always said it’s because Democrats rely on fraudulent votes for power. That’s also the reason why the provisions of the SAVE America Act are widely popular, save for with Democrats in Congress. They won’t say that, of course, but Sen. Patty Murray actually let the cat out of the bag on the Senate floor.

First, let’s be clear about what this bill actually does. The SAVE America Act requires a photo ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. That’s it. There is literally nothing controversial about this.

Yet, Murray took to the floor and said, “Just consider all the people who will face new challenges just to vote, for no good reason. If you are a student who just moved to start college, Republicans will make it harder for you to vote because if this bill passes, you will need to show a photo ID and proof of citizenship in every single state, but a student ID won’t count. Many tribal IDs also won’t be enough under the new Republican restrictions.”

Read that again slowly.

Murray’s great concern is that students won’t be able to vote using their college IDs. But here’s the thing — domestic students who attend school out of state are not voting residents of that state, just because they go to school there. They are still residents of wherever home is. I grew up in Massachusetts and went to college in Connecticut, but I didn’t officially move to Connecticut. I didn’t register to vote there. When elections came, I voted absentee. That’s how it works, that’s how it has always worked, and it is entirely legal and straightforward. No student needs to vote in the state where his or her college is located, unless he or she literally goes through the process of changing his/her residency. The scenario Murray is describing isn’t a suppression crisis — it’s a thing that shouldn’t be happening at all.

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Democrats’ Recycled Lies About The SAVE Act Are So Lazy They’re Racist

The House of Representatives has done the right thing by passing the SAVE America Act (i.e., “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility”). This commonsense legislation requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register and a valid photo ID to vote in federal elections. It is a straightforward safeguard for election integrity — nothing more, nothing less.

Democrats and their media allies are already dusting off the same tired playbook they used against Georgia’s election reforms and every other state law that dares to ask voters to prove who they are. They are screaming “Jim Crow 2.0” and insisting the SAVE America Act will disproportionately harm black Americans. Democrats apparently believe black Americans aren’t smart enough or interested enough to get a photo ID.

This is the same insulting trickery Malcolm X warned about decades ago — the white leftists’ history of manufacturing racism to keep black voters dependent on Democrats. Their narrative is clear: Black Americans are supposedly too incompetent, too poor, or too intimidated to obtain the same identification the rest of us use every single day.

That belief is absurd. Every black person I know has an ID. Can critics of the SAVE America Act produce a single black voter who was turned away at the polls solely because he lacked photo identification? Of course, they cannot. The claim that these requirements disparately affect black voters rests on the racist assumption that there is something about being black that makes one less likely to possess identification. That is not an argument against voter ID — it is an argument against the dignity and capability of black Americans.

If requiring identification is truly racist, why do we only hear the outrage when it regards elections? Black Americans drive cars, open bank accounts, apply for credit, buy cell phones, sign up for utilities, board airplanes, and purchase firearms — all of which require ID. Yet somehow, only voting triggers the racist hysteria. That’s because the real objection isn’t discrimination; it’s that secure elections might catch illegal voting by noncitizens or repeat voters, which Democrats can’t abide.

The cost of a photo ID is minimal. In my home state of Indiana and many others, fees are waived for those who need it. Procuring an ID takes little time and can cost less than a fast-food meal. The idea that black voters would rather stay home than spend that small effort is not just false; it is deeply condescending. It treats grown adults like children who need the federal government to hold their hands all the way to the ballot box.

This patronizing lie dishonors the real Jim Crow era heroes who suffered poll taxes, literacy tests, and outright deadly violence that actually prevented black Americans from voting. Those were deliberate, humiliating barriers specifically designed to suppress black engagement. Requiring a photo ID to verify you are who you say you are, and that you are a citizen, protects the integrity of every lawful vote, including those cast by black Americans. Equating voter ID with Jim Crow-era atrocities is a disgrace to the memory of every patriot — black and white — who fought, bled, and died for the right to vote.

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Dem Rep. Claims He Opposes SAVE America Act Because Women are ‘Too Busy’ to Get IDs to Prove Citizenship for Voting

In an interview on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” with Rev. Al Sharpton this weekend, Democrat Congressman André Carson of Indiana said he opposes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act because women are “too busy” to get IDs and prove citizenship before voting.

Carson was on the show launching his re-election bid for Indiana’s 7th Congressional District.

“Trump and his congressional Republicans are absolutely trying to dismantle our electoral process,” the Democrat claimed.

Carson continued, “And the SAVE Act, it impacts millions of women who changed their last names after marriage, many of them were mothers, mothers who are incredibly busy. They don’t have time to track down extra paperwork. It will also prevent minorities from voting, and their strategy couldn’t be more clear, and the American people are pushing back. I hope the Senate does the same.”

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QUIET PART OUT LOUD: A Panicked Chuck Schumer Says SAVE Act Would Purge Millions From Voter Rolls

Chuck Schumer is promoting the SAVE Act without even realizing it.

While speaking to the press this week, the clearly panicked senator said that the SAVE Act would purge millions of people from the voter rolls. Does he mean illegal aliens and dead people? It’s probably safe to assume he does.

This is exactly why millions of patriotic Americans support the SAVE Act, Chuck.

Meaww News reports:

Chuck Schumer claims SAVE Act would strip ‘more than 20 million people’ of their right to vote

Chuck Schumer criticized the proposed SAVE America Act, claiming that the legislation could purge millions from voter rolls.

The Senate minority leader also took aim at tech billionaire Elon Musk, alleging that an AI-driven system linked to his efforts could remove voters without notice. Schumer described the SAVE Act as a “pernicious” and “nasty” piece of legislation that he said could threaten voting rights across the country.

Speaking to reporters, Schumer claimed the legislation would allow large-scale purges of voter rolls using automated systems.

He alleged that an artificial intelligence system connected to efforts by Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could remove millions of voters without notice.

The Democrat said, “Using an Al system set up by Musk and DOGE. So you could show up at the polling place this November, and they’d say you’re no longer on the rolls. They don’t even notify you of it.”

“Millions of people would be purged from their roles because of this system that Musk and DOGE put in. You wouldn’t be notified you’d show up at the polling place, and they’d say, sorry, Mr Jones, sorry, mystery, Miss Smith. You’re not, you’re not on the rolls anymore. They don’t even notify you,” he continued.

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