Election law about citizenship, GOP says, but Democrats sound alarm over access to ballot
Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee says the national fight over election‑law changes really comes down to one issue: requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
Republicans are pushing a vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and present ID when they cast a ballot.
Democrats oppose the push, saying elections should be run by the states, and that a nationwide voter ID law would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
They also argue that Republicans are trying to change the rules because of the tough political headwinds they expect to face this fall.
President Trump has been promoting the plan and faced blowback from Democrats last week by repeating his view that Congress should “nationalize” elections run by states and local governments.
Mr. Hagerty brushed off the uproar, insisting the GOP effort is not “an across-the-board nationalization at all.”
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“It’s one fundamental question, and that is, are you a citizen?” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The Tennessee Republican said states would still control “the terms, the conditions and place for elections” and argued the SAVE Act would also “address the state’s ability to regulate, for example, ballot harvesting.”
He said Democrats are out of step with public opinion, pointing to polls showing strong support for requiring voters to present a government‑issued photo ID.
Mr. Trump also weighed in again Sunday.
“America’s elections are rigged, stolen, and a laughingstock all over the world,” the president alleged in a Truth Social post. “We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a country any longer.”
The proposal would also eliminate mail-only voter registration, require photo ID in every state, and force states to remove noncitizens from their voting rolls.
Republicans are preparing to bring the legislation to a vote in the House.
Democrats are expected to filibuster it in the Senate, casting doubt on whether the measure has any real path forward.
On Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries cast the GOP push as a case of federal overreach, saying states should continue to set their own election laws.
“What Republicans are trying to do is to engage in clear and blatant voter suppression,” the New York Democrat said on CNN’s State of the Union. “They know that if there’s a free and fair election in November, they’re going to lose.”
“What Donald Trump wants to do is try to nationalize the election — translation, steal it, and we’re not going to let it happen,” Mr. Jeffries said.
