Trump pushes bill for voting overhaul
Democrats say it could disenfranchise many
By: Josh Meyer
USA Today
WASHINGTON - In his Sate of the Union speech, President Donald Trump demanded passage of legislation hat he says will protect the 2026 midterm elections form fraud and illegal voting.
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"Congress should unite and enact this commonsense, country-saving legislation right now," Trump said in his February 24 [2026] address, calling on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, to pass the "SAVE America Act" bill as quickly as possible.
..... "It's very simple, trump added. "All voters must show voter ID . all voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote. And no more crooked mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military or travel. None."
..... democrats are also afraid the November [2026] elections will be skewed by interference, but they say it is the America Act itself that would give Republicans unfair advantage by potentially disenfranchising many eligible Democratic voters, especially minorities and women.
..... Stakeholders from across the political spectrum agree hat the bill - already moving through Congress - would represent one of the most sweeping federal interventions in election administration in many years.
..... But that's about the only thing on which they agree.
..... The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or SAVE America Act, passed the GOP-led House of Representatives on February 11 [2026] but faces a shaky future in the Senate. Previous versions failed to gain traction in both chambers last year. [2025] This latest iteration, which builds on the latest iteration, which builds on the 2024 version by adding a voter ID provision, must get 60 votes to pass the Senate.
..... Supporters including Trump and Republican lawmakers say the bill would ensure the only U.S. citizens register to vote, that photo voter IDs are required in federal elections, and that states clean non-citizens from their voter rolls.
..... The bill has raised alarm among Democrats, voting rights groups and election law experts, who said it would disenfranchise potentially millions of Americans by making it harder to register to vote and cast ballots.
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The bill would place new rules on mail-in voting that opponents say would largely favor Republicans, who are less likely to vote by mail, including requiring people to provide proof of citizenship when registering - and voting - in federal elections.
..... Another concern is a fear that married people who changed their surnames might have trouble proving they're eligible to vote because names on their proof of citizenship - a birth certificate, fro example - may not match the name on their photo ID, such as a driver's license.
..... Representative Pete Aguilar, D-California, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said Democrats also oppose the"draconian" bill because it would require that all state voter rolls be turned over to the Department of Homeland Security, where they could potentially be misused.
..... "The last thing." American want, Aguilar said February 11, [2026] is that voter information going over to DHS."
..... Trump has long claimed hat Democrats want to evade strict voter ID safeguards because they want undocumented immigrants to be able to vote for them. Democrats strongly deny that.
..... Research shows U.S. elections have only a minute amount of fraud and that illegal voting does not change outcomes. A study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found only 3 votes out of every 1 million cast were fraudulent.
..... Trump also said such requirements are "polling at 89%, including Democrats!"
..... The White House didn't immediately respond to a USA Today request for comment about Trump's statements, including what poll he was citing.
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But Trump has in the past referred to an august Pew Research Center survey that found that 83% of American adults support requiring voters to show government issued photo ID to vote, including 71% of Democrats and 95% of Republicans.
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Surveys for years have shown broad support for voter ID, according to Amy Sherman of the Poynter Institute's nonpartisan Political fact-checking research center.
..... But surveys typically don't capture nuance, often presenting voter ID as a yes or no choice, she said.
..... For example, Sherman said in a Political analysis of Trump's speech, the Pew survey asked if people supported "requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote."
..... "It did not ask if they supported requiring mail-ballot voters to submit a copy of their ID along with the mail ballot, a provision in the SAVE America Act," Sherman said. She said the survey also didn't ask about the documentary proof of citizenship requirements in the legislation.
..... Most stets already have some form of voter ID requirement. The U.S. commission on Civil Rights, an independent bipartisan agency established by Congress in 1957, found in a September 2018 report that states across the country have enacted voting procedures "that wrongly prevent some citizens from voting ... and have a disparate impact on voters of color and poor citizens."
..... People of Color and lower-income Americans are less likely to have a driver's license with their current address. This disparity has a partisan effect: A 2024 study from the Center for Democracy and civic engagement found 23% of Democrats, compared with 16% of Republicans, do not have a license with their current name or address.
..... On February 23, [2026] 80 prominent conservative organizations signed on the the SAVE America Act Coalition and called on Thune to bring it immediately to the floor for consideration by the full Senate.
..... In their letter, conservative groups like citizen United and the Election integrity Network said Thune should enforce "a talking filibuster," a maneuver that would force integrity measures,"
..... Thune told Fox News on February 25 [2026] that he supports the bill and wants to see it come to a vote.
..... "We are right now in the middle of a government shutdown, so we've got to try and get the government opened up first," Thune said. "But in due time, we will get that up on the floor. We will have a vote on it."