On Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives managed to pass the newer version of the voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, with a slim bipartisan majority.

The bill can claim bipartisan support because it scraped up one Democrat who voted for it – Henry Cuellar of Texas, who explained the bill and why he supported it in a statement to his constituents.

“I want to explain clearly what this bill does and does not do. If you are already registered to vote, the status of your existing registration remains unchanged.

“For Americans registering to vote for the first time, it requires confirmation of U.S. citizenship using commonly held documents such as a birth certificate or U.S. passport – the same types of documents Texans already provide in routine state processes and the same common-sense expectation behind Texas’s existing election system. This approach is not new. 36 states and over 200 countries already require voters to show photo ID or, in some cases, a non-photo-bearing identification document.

“For those registering for the first time, the bill also reflects real life. People get married, people get divorced, and people change their names. Those moments should never create uncertainty about whether someone can vote. That’s why this bill requires states to accommodate name changes and accept multiple, commonly held forms of identification.

“And if a citizen does not have those documents readily available, the bill provides a way to affirm citizenship through an affidavit. This approach protects election integrity while treating eligible voters with fairness and respect.

The rest of the Democrats were dead set against the SAVE America Act, and have been busy for the past week trying to cook up every single argument that they could possibly throw at it. This would be despite the large numbers of support from the American people for having to show ID when voting – even from Democrats!

Americans agree with Nicki Minaj when it comes to voter id.

83% of favor photo voter id to vote per Pew. This includes 70%+ of Democrats and Republicans, as well as 75%+ of Americans across races…. White, Black, and Latino.

It's not controversial. pic.twitter.com/9Kocw85Uh8

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 3, 2026

You would think this would deflate the Democrats, but oh no. They doubled down. Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, and Hakeem Jeffries, as Carol reported on Monday, all opposed the SAVE America Act. Schumer claimed it was “Jim Crow 2.0,” conveniently forgetting all the other things that Schumer and Democrats have claimed to be “Jim Crow” adjacent, including the filibuster, which they now want to protect for themselves.

But if the SAVE America Act wasn’t racist, then it was… sexist? That’s what House Minority Whip Katherine Clark claimed.

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., accused Republicans of trying to make it harder for women to vote. She argued that the legislation would make it more difficult for married women to cast ballots if their surname is different from their maiden name on their birth certificate.

“Republicans aren’t worried about non-citizens voting. They’re afraid of actual American citizens voting. Why? Because they’re losing among women,” Clark said during debate on the House floor. “This is a minefield of red tape that you have put in front of women and American citizens and their right to vote.”

So because women change their names more often than men, this is a barrier to… what? As someone who got married, changed her last name, and managed to change her voter registration to her new name more than 25 years ago, I find this insulting beyond words. And considering that a federal ID is required in so many other places, this is just a profoundly stupid argument.

If this logic had merit, millions of married women are currently prevented from flying on an airplane. Big if true. https://t.co/3MHe4yorPF

— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) February 10, 2026

Bless their hearts, they’re stretching SO HARD to try and make this argument.

Seriously unwell Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez calls people who support commonsense voter ID "racist, misogynistic trash.”

83% of Americans support voter ID laws, including 82% of Latino Americans and 76% of Black Americans.

Rep. Delia Ramirez just called them all "trash." pic.twitter.com/UqYwbwt1Tm

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 11, 2026

But once again, Speaker Mike Johnson – who truly is some kind of legislative wizard – pulled the GOP caucus together and everyone voted for the SAVE America Act. Even Thomas Massie, the perpetual crank, voted for it.

With the House hurdle cleared, the act heads to the Senate. Despite the slim Republican majority in the Senate, the odds are stacked against it.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said he wants to put the SAVE America Act on the floor but has made clear that there is not “anywhere near close” to enough support for using the “nuclear option” on the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to advance the legislation with only Republican votes.

And he has signaled reluctance to the idea of using the “talking filibuster,” because it has an “opportunity cost” in that it “ties up the floor indefinitely.”

“Is there another way of getting there? We’ll see,” Thune said this week.

The measure also doesn’t have unanimous support among Senate Republicans.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) on Wednesday became the first Senate Republican to speak out against passing the bill.

“When Democrats attempted to advance sweeping election reform legislation in 2021, Republicans were unanimous in opposition because it would have federalized elections, something we have long opposed. Now, I’m seeing proposals such as the SAVE Act and MEGA that would effectively do just that,” she wrote in a statement posted to social media.

“Once again, I do not support these efforts,” she added.

Does the SAVE America Act actually “federalize elections”? Introducing standards for federal elections is hardly a takeover by the federal government.

It is an updated version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, also led by Roy, R-Texas, which passed the House in April 2025 but was never taken up in the Senate.

Whereas the SAVE Act would create a new federal proof of citizenship mandate in the voter registration process and impose requirements for states to keep their rolls clear of ineligible voters, the updated bill would also require photo ID to vote in any federal elections.

It would also require information-sharing between state election officials and federal authorities in verifying citizenship on current voter rolls and enable the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue immigration cases if non-citizens were found to be listed as eligible to vote.

Prosecuting those who vote illegally is important for voter integrity, right?
https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/2020958260061507822
The Democrats’ desperation is weirdly out of touch for a issue with such large bipartisan support, unless you accept that this was their plan all along. Flood the system and overwhelm it with illegal immigration, make it impossible to effectively enforce the borders or the law, and then declare a mass amnesty with “pathways to citizenship” for all and sundry. And that plan very nearly succeeded. The fact that the border crossing problems were nearly instantly solved by President Trump showed us all that it was a choice by Team Biden to allow this to happen. And now, even though illegal voting does take place, we aren’t supposed to worry about it because it would be racist/sexist/etc. to enforce the current laws. If the current laws were enforced, and illegal voting was strictly prosecuted, then the SAVE America Act wouldn’t be a front-burner issue. But here we are. It’s time to pressure every Republican senator to get this act passed.

Featured image via Proulain on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license