United States Capitol, March 3, 2026 (Photo: Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Republicans pressed on Tuesday to pass a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot, despite the long odds the legislation will ever become law amid bipartisan opposition.
51-48 votes the formal start of debate on what GOP lawmakers have dubbed the Safeguard American Voter Qualification Act, or SAVE America Act, is just beginning the process. Senators are expected to vote on several amendments in the coming days and perhaps weeks.
But at least 60 lawmakers will be needed on the floor to complete debate, a highly unlikely prospect as Democrats argue the bill would disenfranchise millions of voters.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against starting the debate. North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis did not vote.
Murkowski wrote in a social media post last month that the November midterm elections are “rapidly approaching” and that implementing “new federal requirements now that states are deep in preparations will negatively impact election integrity by forcing election officials to scramble to comply with the new policies, likely without the necessary resources.”
“Ensuring public confidence in our elections is the foundation of our democracy, but federal overreach is no way to achieve that goal.”
Trump threatens retaliation
President Donald Trump has made nationwide voting changes his top legislative priority ahead of the general election mid-term electionsalthough Republicans took unified control of the government less than two years ago.
He wrote on social media Tuesday morning that he plans to campaign against anyone who doesn’t support the legislation, that is The House passed last month.
“Only sick, deranged or insane people in the House or Senate can vote against the SAVE AMERICA ACT,” he wrote. “If this happens, each of these points individually will be used against the user in his political campaign for office – a guaranteed loss!”
Democrats predict millions have started voting
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said during remarks that the legislation would require Americans “to navigate a bureaucratic obstacle course like we’ve never seen before in voter registration.”
He said the bill’s passage would lead to millions of Americans being removed from voter rolls because of the requirement that states check their voter registration lists through a “deeply flawed” Department of Homeland Security database.
“If you get fired from your job, you may never know about it,” he said. “There is no obligation to tell you about this.”
Schumer argued that the bill does not so much ensure that only Americans will vote in the elections, but is more concerned that Republicans will lose at least one chamber of Congress later this year.
“It’s funny. I don’t remember MAGA Republicans screaming about a stolen election and voter fraud after winning the 2024 election,” he said. “Well, the same rules that governed the 2024 election will apply to the 2026 election as well. The only difference is that this time, MAGA Republicans know they’re in political trouble. So now all of a sudden they’re saying the system is compromised and broken and needs to be changed. It’s all lies.”
77 cases of voting by foreigners
Voting in federal elections is illegal for non-citizens, and anyone found guilty could face fines and up to a year in prison. According to him, there are scarce cases of people who are not eligible to vote who actually vote analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center, data collected by the Heritage Foundation, a particularly conservative think tank.
The BPC study “found only 77 cases of foreign voting between 1999 and 2023” and that “there is no evidence that foreign voting was ever significant enough to influence the election outcome.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. he repeated hours before the procedural stage that he “does not have the votes” to pass the bill through a verbose filibuster, which is what several of his members expect him to do.
“So we’re having a heated debate on the floor of the United States Senate about what I think the Senate has done in the past and probably should do a lot more,” he said. “But we’ll figure it out. Everyone will have their own opinion. At some point we’ll have votes. And we’ll see where the votes are.”
A talking filibuster would require Democratic senators to make a series of speeches to delay or prevent final passage. This process could block the work of the Senate for months.
Thune said he wasn’t sure when votes on the amendments would begin, but he expected the process to continue “for the foreseeable future.”
“I think there will be some flexibility, at least for now, in terms of where the road goes,” he said.
Postal voting, gender confirmation surgeries, sports
Trump has he asked GOP senators to add several provisions to the legislation, including up-to-date restrictions on mail-in voting, a federal ban on gender-affirming surgery for teenage transgender people and a up-to-date law banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
The chairwoman of the West Virginia Policy Committee, Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, said she does not believe the federal government should tell states how to manage mail-in ballots.
“Many states, red and blue, have more than a majority of mail-in votes,” she said. “So I think we have to be careful there.”
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said that after debate on the SAVE America Act ends, he wants GOP leaders to hold a vote on keeping a rule requiring at least 60 senators to vote to limit debate on bills, known as the legislative filibuster.
“I think the days are over when the minority prevented legislation from being passed. Because Democratic voters want their members to end it. Republican voters want us to end it,” he said. “So ultimately it’s public pressure that I think will ultimately end the filibuster. I’d rather just kill them off so we can pass things like the SAVE America Act.”
Thune said during an afternoon news conference that he believed the 60-vote procedural hurdle should remain unchanged because “historically, Republicans and conservative priorities and principles have been much more protected than Democrats.”
Photo ID
The bill would require local election officials to ensure that anyone registering to vote proves they are American, most likely by showing a passport or birth certificate. Then, when going to vote by mail, either during early voting or on Election Day, they would have to show a valid photo ID, such as a driver’s license or military ID card.
The legislation would require state governments to send voter lists to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for its officials to check against the Systematic Alien Eligibility Verification (SAVE) system to see if someone already registered is a U.S. citizen.
The legislation does not provide state or local governments with any additional money or time to implement the changes if they were to become law.
The Bipartisan Policy Center writes: compact on the legislation that the organization “recommends that policymakers avoid making major changes in an election year, given the likelihood that they will cause administrative errors and cause voter confusion.”
Three BPC experts who analyzed the draft bill said it “prioritizes practicality over precision.”
“The act enters into force on the day it enters into force, giving countries no time to adapt their processes,” they wrote. “It also requires the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to provide states with implementation guidance within just 10 days of enactment.”
Lawsuits
The legislation would give private citizens the ability to sue election officials who register a person without proof of U.S. citizenship.
It was written by Jeffrey Thorsby, legislative director of the National Association of Counties post on the effects of the regulations that “liability laws may discourage election workers and volunteers from serving at a time when many counties are already facing recruitment challenges.”
“Currently, the burden is on the illegal voter to register or vote for a non-citizen,” he wrote. “The SAVE America Act proposes a radical change in how we punish fraudulent votes.”
