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In a sane world, this would be easy.
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A bill requiring voter identification passed in the House earlier this year. The bill goes to the Senate, where the party in power holds a 53-47 majority but obviously fails to meet the 60-vote threshold to overcome the filibuster. One would think seven centrist Democrats in purple states would come along for the ride, given how popular the bill is. But none, not even Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), will budge.
Of course, we’re talking about the SAVE America Act, a bill that includes two easy-to-understand provisions: showing proper identification when voting and proof of American citizenship. These provisions are supported by a solid majority of Republicans, Democrats, and independent voters, with 60% saying in a recent Harvard-Harris poll it is “commonsense way to stop fraud and protect the security of our elections,” while 85% agree that “only U.S. citizens should vote in our elections — including 84% of independents and 82% of Democrats.”
People clearly want secure elections and confidence in the system. And those in the country illegally voting in our elections is obviously unacceptable and illegal.
“The only ones that fight it are the Democrat leaders because they want to cheat,” President Donald Trump argued. “So we have to keep that fight going. We have to get voter ID, and we have to get proof of citizenship. It’s so important. It’s one of the most important things we can do.”
Ten of the 12 states that don’t require some kind of verification when voting are blue: California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont. In a related story, former Vice President Kamala Harris won all 10 of those states in the 2024 election.
Support for voter ID is reflected in how voters felt about the first two Trump presidential elections. After the 2016 election, Democratic voters were fed a steady narrative that the election was stolen for Trump by the Russians. Leading this conspiracy theory was loser Hillary Clinton, without any scrutiny from the legacy media.
“You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you,” Clinton said.
The “best campaign” line is particularly hilarious, given that the former secretary of state never once campaigned in the key swing state of Wisconsin, believing it was in the bag. She also barely set foot in Michigan and didn’t even buy any ads there until the final week of the campaign.
The result of this rhetoric? A 2018 Gallup poll showed that 78% of Democratic voters believed the Russians changed the outcome to aid Trump. And after the 2020 election, won by Joe Biden, according to Pew Research, 76% of Trump voters believe Trump “definitely” or “probably” won.
Bottom line: More than three-quarters of voters don’t trust election results when they’re as close as they were in 2016 and 2020, signaling little confidence in the current system.
Regardless, Democrat lawmakers are dug in on the SAVE America Act, not because they disagree with those provisions, but out of a visceral hatred for Trump. Their strategy, underscored in countless media appearances, is to claim that women and minorities will be tossed from voter rolls, but offer no evidence on how that would happen.
“The biggest risk for Americans right now is that we see these as piecemeal, and we don’t recognize it’s part of a pattern,” two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told MS NOW this week. “This is step 10 in an authoritarian playbook. You end democracy.”
“The creation of a [voter] database should terrify all of us,” she added. “That is an attempt to do national surveillance.”
Abrams, of course, is the same person who alleged she was cheated out of her first race for governor because the election was “stolen” and “thousands of Georgians had their voices stolen because they were not able to cast ballots.”
However, despite the polling and despite the ridiculous arguments from Democrats, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has repeatedly argued that the numbers simply aren’t there to pass this legislation in his chamber, which has drawn the ire of members of the Make America Great Again coalition on Capitol Hill.
“There are no easy ways to do this,” Thune told reporters in March. “Believe me, we’ve examined all the options.”
“Looks like Leader John Thune is on his way out of town with his private escort, as the SAVE America Act gets left behind. This is very disappointing,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) reacted after the Senate broke for recess. “I am willing to stay in Washington as long as it takes to get the job done.”
To pass the bill, it appears the only option is to include it in a budget reconciliation package, which would only require a simple majority.
“I would do it through reconciliation. We can short-circuit all of this,” explained Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Fox News. “The Senate is notoriously slow. Sometimes it takes us months to get nothing done. The SAVE Act is a priority … I have chased Sen. Thune like he stole Thanksgiving to try and get him to do a reconciliation.”
But Thune also believes the votes aren’t there in this scenario, either.
“We have tried to see if there’s a way we could thread the needle and use reconciliation, and it’s just, you kind of come back to the same place,” he said.
Know this: If the SAVE America Act doesn’t become law, Republicans are doomed in November. It’s already challenging enough to get Trump voters out to vote in elections when he’s not on the ballot, but failure here will absolutely depress even hardcore voters. And if the party, which has majorities in both chambers, can’t figure out a way to get this done, a good chunk of voters will undoubtedly ask, “Why should I ever trust you with power again?”
“It will guarantee the midterms. If you don’t get it, big trouble,” Trump predicted. “The people are demanding it. Every time I go out, save America! Save America! We want the SAVE America Act!”
Trump is correct. “Big trouble” may even be an understatement. The House will return to Democratic control, and impeachment of the president and members of his Cabinet will begin on Day 1. And if the Senate goes back to the Blue Team, they will undoubtedly nuke the filibuster, something Thune is against doing now, and attempt to pass radical legislation including abolishing the Electoral College, adding six seats to the Supreme Court, adding two states of D.C. and Puerto Rico, and impeaching Supreme Court justices, as Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) called for this week.
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Criticize Democrats all you like, but they would find a way to get a popular bill into the endzone come hell or high water.
Republicans need to get their act together. Pass the SAVE America Act. Or find yourself playing defense as the minority for the rest of Trump’s final term.
