SAVE Act Passes First Senate Hurdle Amid Strong Public Support
The GOP-controlled Senate voted narrowly to advance the SAVE America Act on Tuesday, an action that will kick off an intense debate that could last days. The vote was 51-48, with all Democrats and some Republicans voting against a measure that has overwhelming public support among both Republican and Democratic voters.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is likely to introduce several amendments, including individual aspects of the overall bill for votes, such as dramatically curbing mail-in voting, requiring an ID to vote in all federal elections, and limiting school sports teams to participation based on boys’ and girls’ biological sex at birth.
Senate Republicans, preparing for a competitive midterm election cycle, are looking to use the expected rejection of legislation that has become a priority for President Donald Trump as a political issue against Democrats.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot. The measure is unlikely to pass the Senate, where Republicans do not have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the 100-member chamber.
With all Democrats expected to block the bill, Republican lawmakers have initiated an extended floor debate to draw attention to Democratic opposition to voter ID requirements.
Public opinion polling has shown broad support for voter identification laws across a range of voters, including those from both major political parties, The Detroit News reported.
“We’re going to put every one of them on the record so that everyone in America knows that Republicans support voter ID and Democrats are the party of open borders and illegal voters,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, told reporters.
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Democrats have falsely claimed that the voter ID requirements would “disenfranchise” tens of millions of women and minorities—a typical talking point they often use to oppose GOP-backed legislation.
Some have even gone as far as labeling the SAVE America Act “Jim Crow 2.0,” though Democrats widely implemented so-called Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation following the Civil War and throughout most of the 20th century until they were overturned by the 1965 Civil Rights Act.
Democrats have also tried to claim—without evidence—that Trump backs the legislation so Republicans can fundamentally sway elections in their favor.
“Fundamentally, these are the American people’s elections. They’re not Donald Trump’s. They’re not the Republican Party’s. They’re not the Democratic Party’s,” Rep. Joe Morelle, top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which oversees elections, told The Detroit News.
“When the American people recognize the president is trying to shut down or stop the work of election officials, I think there’s going to be an enormous outcry,” he added.
Democrats routinely claim that vote fraud in the U.S. is rare, but the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies continue to find a plethora of examples. Also, FBI Director Kash Patel said last summer the bureau under his predecessor quashed an investigation into alleged Chinese interference ahead of the 2024 election.
Patel said the plan involved the Chinese government providing fraudulent driver’s licenses to Chinese nationals in the U.S. so they could cast ballots for Biden, then Kamala Harris.
Following the 2020 election, Trump and others asserted there was widespread fraud due to the mass use of mail-in balloting without any real oversight, especially in Georgia. Democrats refuted that, but in December the Fulton County Election Board, which encompasses Atlanta, admitted that 315,000 ballots were illegally certified without the required signatures on tabulator tapes from poll workers.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts provided the documentation and admitted to the error. He said the county commission had “nothing to hide,” though the state elections board had tried for a year unsuccessfully to obtain the same information.
Trump lost Georgia to Biden by a margin of 11,779 votes.
Nearly 150,000 California Mail Ballots Rejected In Primary
California election officials are examining why nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the state’s June primary, with late-arriving ballots accounting for most of the increase.
The higher rejection rate comes despite years of election law changes designed to make voting more accessible and ensure more ballots are ultimately counted.
According to data compiled by the California Secretary of State’s office, 148,241 mail-in ballots were rejected during the June primary, representing 1.73% of all mail ballots returned.
That marks an increase from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or 1.56% of all mail ballots cast.
The largest reason for rejection was ballots arriving too late to qualify under California law.
State data shows that 93,479 ballots were rejected because they failed to meet the state’s deadline requirements.
California allows mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Voting experts believe many of the rejected ballots received postmarks dated after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted even if they arrived within the seven-day grace period.
Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the timing of postal processing appears to be a significant concern.
“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander said.
Election experts have questioned whether recent operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service may be contributing to delayed postmarks.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators wrote to the Postal Service expressing concern that mail-processing changes could affect ballot handling during federal elections.
Updated Postal Service procedures mean postmarks may reflect when mail is processed at regional facilities rather than when it first enters the mail system.
Because processing centers have been consolidated in some areas, election officials have warned that postmark timing could be affected.
Before the June primary, California election officials encouraged voters to mail ballots as early as possible because of potential postal delays.
The June election also featured a highly competitive race for governor, which some experts believe encouraged many voters to wait until the final days before casting ballots.
In addition to late-arriving ballots, approximately 44,000 ballots were rejected because election officials determined the voter’s signature did not match the signature on file.
Another 8,300 ballots were rejected because the return envelope did not contain a signature.
State records also show that 743 ballots were rejected because those voters had already cast another ballot.
Other rejected ballots involved missing ballots inside return envelopes or multiple ballots submitted in a single envelope.
The highest rejection rate in the state occurred in Tulare County, where 3.52% of returned mail ballots were rejected.
Alpine County and Merced County followed closely, each recording rejection rates of 3.36%.
California has frequently faced criticism for taking weeks to complete vote counting after major elections, largely because state law permits ballots meeting certain requirements to continue arriving after Election Day.
Following the June primary, President Donald Trump again criticized California’s election system, while the Department of Justice opened an investigation into election administration in Los Angeles County.
Election experts emphasize that the increase in rejected ballots should not be interpreted as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found documented cases of mail ballot fraud remained extremely rare, estimating roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast, The Associated Press reported.
State officials have not identified evidence of widespread fraud connected to the June primary, but the increase in rejected ballots is expected to receive additional scrutiny as election administrators evaluate whether changes in postal operations, voter behavior or election procedures contributed to the higher rejection rate.
