The rapper Nicki Minaj supports it. Elon Musk says it’s critical to sustain American democracy. The SAVE America Act voter identification bill emerged this week as a hot topic in hard-line Republican circles and now may advance in Congress next week.
The legislation, backed by President Donald Trump, is scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives next week amid a pressure campaign from right-wing commentators and many in the congressional GOP. It sets up a showdown with Democrats and voting-rights advocates, who say such a proposal could disenfranchise millions of Americans, and with Senate Republican leaders, who are fielding calls to change the filibuster and clear a path to passage.
“America’s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World. We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a Country any longer,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday. The president urged passage of a bill dubbed the SAVE America Act, which would require government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Democrats are among those who have bristled at the proposals, which are rooted in Trump’s unfounded claims that elections are rife with fraud and come in the context of the president’s recent comments about nationalizing elections and the FBI raid of a Georgia election office last week where Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present.
