May 1, 2026

Election Law

Blurb:

Republicans in the Senate are arguing over the SAVE America Act — common-sense legislation that would require voter ID and proof of citizenship in federal elections. Numerous polls demonstrate that such laws are overwhelmingly popular among American voters. But while some RINOs are reportedly blocking legitimate efforts to advance the legislation, voters in deep blue California are taking matters into their own hands to safeguard their elections against fraud.

After a months-long, grassroots-driven campaign, GOP State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and other proponents submitted signatures for the California Voter ID Initiative on Monday. The proposal, which DeMaio said garnered more than 1.3 million signatures, would amend the state’s constitution to require voter ID “for all future elections in California.”

Blurb:

It appears the dead will continue to rest in peace on Michigan’s dirty voter rolls.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week summarily denied a request to review two lower court decisions that rejected an election-integrity watchdog’s lawsuit seeking to force Michigan’s far-left Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to remove the names of deceased people from the voter files.

In a release denying certiorari for dozens of cases, the court did not explain why it decided not to hear the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s challenge.

Blurb:

 

Watch Virginia closely. The far-left Gov. Abigail Spanberger is setting out on a path that other Democrats will follow, and that the party will roll out nationally if it wins in 2028. It is a path to authoritarian leftist control and the destruction of our freedoms. Besides the gerrymandered congressional map, she has also allowed for mail-in ballots that will allow enough fraud to keep the Democrats in power forever. Meanwhile she is lightening penalties for violent crime and forbidding local police to cooperate with ICE. This will ensure a terrorized native population and the flooding of Virginia with migrants who will further ensure the left’s total control of the state. And for the left, Virginia is just the beginning.

“5 VIRGINIA CONGRESSMEN: Democrats are rejecting voters to gerrymander our state,” by Rep. Rob Wittman, Fox News, March 2, 2026:

Virginia voters settled the redistricting question in 2020. Nearly two-thirds of Virginians amended our Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission and take map-drawing power away from politicians. The message was unmistakable: stop the gerrymander. Stop letting politicians choose their voters.

Democrats applauded that reform. House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott praised fairness and transparency. Senate President pro tempore L. Louise Lucas declared it would ensure “an equitable, transparent and bipartisan process to ensure our electoral maps are drawn fairly.” Rep. Don Beyer said plainly, “Gerrymandering is cheating. It allows politicians to select their voters, when it should be the other way around.” They were right.

In 2019, Abigail Spanberger said, “Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.” While running for governor, she added, “Short answer is no. I have no plans to redistrict Virginia.”

That was before she took office.

Blurb:

A Virginia judge granted the Republican National Committee a temporary restraining order that halts Virginia Democrats’ gerrymandering efforts to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the upcoming midterms.

The Republican National Committee brought a lawsuit Wednesday to stop what the organization describes as an unconstitutional last-minute power grab by Virginia Democrats. Filing a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, the RNC asked the court to block the implementation of the proposed constitutional amendment. According to local media, Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. granted the RNC motion on Thursday.

Blurb:

If voter ID requirements truly threaten civil rights, it follows that many other civil rights are also threatened. Identification is needed throughout American society, including for transportation, accommodation, and housing — historical battlegrounds for civil rights.

The SAVE America Act would require documented proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification for voting in federal elections.  President Trump and Republicans support the legislation, and Americans overwhelmingly support voter ID, which is at the heart of the measure.  Democrats, on the other hand, overwhelmingly oppose the SAVE America Act and, by implication, the election integrity requirements it would implement.

Blurb:

“Anything you can do, I can do better,” the famous duet from the musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” comes to mind as Republicans in blue states watch their red congressional districts disappear because Democrats turned the tables on President Donald Trump’s plan to push mid-decade redistricting to make it easier for the GOP to hold the House majority. Once Republican states decided to employ this strategy, Democrats would have been derelict not to do the same.

House Republicans leaders are beginning to realize that their chances of midterm victory may shrink because this Pandora’s Box was opened. It’s not just that blue states might create more safe seats than red states might. The debate has energized the Democrat base and allowed their big money donors to argue to the public that this is just another “authoritarian” attempt by Trump to rig the system.

Blurb:

While congressional Democrats rail against a voter verification bill they claim is “voter suppression,” their rising socialist star is demanding multiple forms of identification to shovel snow.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani put a call out for help as a powerful snowstorm pummelled the Big Apple. His Sanitation Department is recruiting temporary workers to shovel out the city.

Applicants can earn up to $28.71 per hour, but to get the gig they have to show some ID, Fox News reported. That includes two photos, two original forms of identification and copies, and their Social Security card.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump has declared that voter ID requirements will be in place for this year’s midterm elections, with or without congressional approval.

Posting on Truth Social, President Trump left little ambiguity about his intent:

“There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”

In a separate post, the president said he had “searched the depths” of the legal arguments and would be “presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future” in the form of an executive order.

Blurb:

Virginia Democrats are advancing two bills to extend deadlines for receiving and counting mail-in absentee ballots several days after Election Day.

Delegate Adele McClure and State Senator Barbara Favola, who represent Arlington, have introduced companion bills, HB 82 and SB 58, which will extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Virginia from noon to 5 p.m. on the third day after Election Day, reported ARL Now.

Blurb:

As Democrats wage war on election integrity, a new poll shows a majority of Americans believe noncitizens on their states voter rolls are a problem.

Last week, the Republican-controlled House passed the SAVE (The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) America Act on a mostly party-line vote. Texas’ politically vulnerable Rep. Henry Cuellar was the lone Democrat voting for the measure.

“I support the SAVE America Act because I believe in the fundamental principle: American citizens should decide American elections,” Cuellar wrote on X. He’s not alone. The vast majority of Americans support the two pillars of the bill: Documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and voter ID to cast a ballot in federal elections.

Blurb:

 

Independent journalists from Muckraker released footage Tuesday showing a New York City Board of Elections employee giving a registration form to someone claiming non-citizen status, noting the office accepts any submission without reporting issues. The worker acknowledged occasional non-citizen attempts but said his role is just to collect and forward forms, which later face database checks. Critics highlighted it as a vulnerability, while studies show non-citizen voting remains rare, fueling partisan divides over stricter proof-of-citizenship laws like the SAVE Act ahead of 2026 midterms.

The Virginia Supreme Court has just given the insurrectionist DNC state the go-ahead to push a referendum that will effectively cancel 4 U.S. House seats for conservatives. DNC Virginia looks to cement its hold on American soil by effectively making it impossible for non-Democrats to ever win in the state again. The referendum, the new district map, will be voted on starting this March through mid-April. The move followed the GOP’s failure to secure a gerrymandering scheme favorable to their party in Indiana, a state they fully control.

The courts have failed at all levels to recognize the constitutional violations of gerrymandering as a principle, which allows political parties to create geographically unnatural voting districts to assure their party cannot be defeated in a general election ever again. Now, millions of conservatives will be effectively disenfranchised from the voting rolls, taxed without representation. SCOTUS continues to allow this unconstitutional practice.

Blurb:

VA High Court Greenlights Dem Gerrymandering Effort – thefederalist.com

The Virginia Supreme Court handed Democrats a massive win Friday, allowing them to move forward with a redistricting referendum that would gerrymander the commonwealth’s U.S. House districts from five Republicans and six Democrats to one Republican and 10 Democrats.

Democrats have been looking for a way to push through their referendum, despite legal challenges and court rulings saying the efforts are illegal, in time for an April 21 special election that would allow the gerrymandered map to take effect before the November general election.

Early voting is set to start March 6.

If the referendum passes, it would allow the Virginia legislature the authority to redraw the congressional maps, instead of its nonpartisan commission. The nonpartisan commission is relatively new in Virginia, coming into play once since its creation by referendum in 2020. In that case, the commission failed to agree on maps, requiring the state Supreme Court to complete the process.

Despite the failures of the commission, the gerrymandering plan from the Democrats is a mid-decade power-grab aimed at disenfranchising Virginians in order to pad Democrat House seats ahead of a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which already artificially gave Democrats numerous seats based on racial gerrymandering.

 

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and former U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, both Republicans and co-chairs of a group called Virginians for Fair Maps, which is aimed at stopping this process, put out a statement Friday promising further legal challenges.

“Though we firmly believe this referendum is illegal, the court has allowed it to move forward before final judgement. There will be further legal action on this matter,” they said. “All across Virginia, voters are speaking out against this brazen political power grab that allows politicians in Richmond to choose their own voters. It’s wrong, it’s illegal, and it will fail.”

While allowing the special election to move forward, the Virginia Supreme Court bizarrely set itself up to hear the case after the election occurs, meaning there appears to be three potential outcomes: The referendum fails and the case would likely not be heard; the referendum is approved and the court agrees with Democrats, allowing the gerrymander; the referendum is approved and the court agrees with Republicans, throwing it out.

The last scenario is unlikely, since the court would be seen as nullifying a vote.

Republicans are still talking as if things could go their direction, with state House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Va., saying, “we’re going to make our case to Virginians that this is unfair. This is unprecedented. And, quite frankly it’s against the law we believe.”

State Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Va., said, “Last October, democrats took an unprecedented step to illegally pass a constitutional amendment at the 11th hour. The judiciary agreed, and the Supreme Court has taken up and fast-tracked the case. Make no mistake, the rule of law will prevail.”

But beyond the legal challenges that they could present, the state and national Republican parties, as well as other organizations, face an urgent need to set their sights on a massive get-out-the-vote operation in Virginia.


Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.


from thefederalist.com

Blurb:

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has indicated that she will support the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, commonly known as the SAVE Act, after weeks of speculation. While the long-serving GOP moderate indicated that she will vote in favor of the bill, Collins emphasized that she is not in favor of tweaking the legislative filibuster process, which could provide a significant hurdle to the bill’s final passage.

Collins confirmed that she would be supporting the bill in a statement to the Maine Wire on Friday. Her endorsement was critical, as it brought the number of Republicans supporting the measure up to 50, which would allow them to pass it with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance.

Blurb:

THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN on Sunday that Democrats will fight “tooth and nail” against the House-passed SAVE America Act, an election integrity bill he likened to racial segregation.

During an appearance on “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” Schumer stressed his caucus will “not let” the legislation reach President Donald Trump’s desk and suggested Republicans only support it because they do not want poor people and minorities to vote.

The Trump-backed SAVE America Act would mandate voters to present photo ID at

Blurb:

 

Investigative journalist Nick Shirley has uncovered major irregularities in California’s voter rolls, including more than 100 people allegedly registered at a single residence, dozens registered to a mail store, voters listed as 125 years old, and even a case where dogs were reportedly registered and received ballots. He also points to deceased individuals voting.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order requiring voter identification for the 2026 midterm elections if Congress does not act on the matter.

Trump announced the move Friday on Truth Social, vowing to implement nationwide voter ID requirements regardless of legislative outcomes. “If we can’t get it through Congress, there are Legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted. I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order,” Trump wrote. He added in a separate post: “There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”

Blurb:

 

One small set for voter integrity, one giant step for …… the Senate. This is a no brainer. Any Republican opposed is working for the enemy.

The House has passed the SAVE America Act in a 218–213 vote, requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections and establishing a nationwide voter ID requirement. Now the fight moves to the Senate.

Supporters say the principle is simple: American citizens should decide American elections. Speaker Mike Johnson called the measure straightforward and overdue, while Rep. Chip Roy urged the Senate to take it up immediately.

Blurb:

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday accused Democrats of being “anti-American” and wanting to “disenfranchise” American voters by “allowing non-citizens to vote.”

Their remarks come after Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, became the sole House Democrat to vote in favor of legislation that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship and voter identification before casting a ballot.

Democrats have described the voter integrity legislation, the SAVE America Act, as “voter suppression” and being “reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.” Democrats floated similar accusations about the SAVE America Act’s precursor, the SAVE Act.

Blurb:

 

After Sen. John Fetterman’s first year in office — marked by a noticeable shift to the right as he recovered from the massive stroke that nearly derailed his 2022 Senate campaign — satire site The Babylon Bee ran a brutal headline: “Weird: Man Becomes More Conservative As He Regains Brain Function.” The piece opened with the line, “In a bizarre coincidence, Senator John Fetterman has suddenly become more conservative after his brain resumed working.”

Happily, that trend has continued. The Pennsylvania Democrat has voiced strong support for Israel and tougher border security, and even backed several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Unsurprisingly, those positions have made him a frequent target of criticism from within his own party.

In an appearance on Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures, Fetterman once again ruffled Democratic feathers by affirming his support for voter ID laws, telling host Maria Bartiromo they were “a no brainer.”

Blurb:

Old glitching Mitch appears to be glitching again. Is his Trump hate showing?

As Sen. Mitch McConnell prepares to ride off into the congressional sunset, the Kentucky Republican is said to be sticking it to President Donald Trump one more time. And the sticking this time, not surprisingly, involves one of Trump’s most urgent concerns: election integrity.

“Oh, yeah, that’s what McConnell is doing. Personally speaking, I think it still stems from Jan. 6 (2021 Capitol riots),” a top congressional aide told The Federalist on Thursday afternoon, as the battle over the SAVE Act ground down to trench warfare.

“Of course, Trump hasn’t had nice things to say about McConnell, and vice versa, but I think it’s personal, no matter what (McConnell) says,” the aide added.

The 83-year-old former Majority Leader’s latest trip to the hospital this week for “flu-like” symptoms has slowed the pace even more so on whatever version of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) the listless GOP majority believes can squeak through. But McConnell’s intransigence on a bill that humbly asks for proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in U.S. elections has been felt over the nearly 300 days since the Republican-controlled House passed the measure.

Blurb:

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, claims that requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections is voter suppression.

Even when shown polls that many Democrats also support voter ID in elections nationwide, Jeffries doubled down on talking points.

“We know that states are the ones empowered to conduct elections. And every state should be allowed to decide the best way to proceed to ensure that there’s a free and fair election in New York.” “What Republicans are trying to do is engage in clear and blatant voter suppression.”

Blurb:

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has argued that requiring voter identification is “another way to simply try to suppress the vote,” pushing back on polling that shows broad public support for voter ID laws.

Schiff made the remarks Sunday during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

Host Jon Karl asked whether Democrats could support a compromise requiring photo identification in order to vote.

Blurb:

Former Vice President Mike Pence really wants you to think he is a principled man. He really goes on and on about how he, seemingly alone, stands for those bedrock conservative values that made this country great. His foundation, Advancing American Freedom, even boasts “The Conservative Movement Lives Here.”

He’s a constitutional conservative to his core. Until he isn’t.

Let’s take election reform. The SAVE Act, the main provision of which is so overwhelmingly popular with normal Americans that it’s only natural that the denizens of the Washington swamp oppose it with near-religious fervor, has stalled in the Senate. The bill would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in U.S. elections.

 

Blurb:

 

Increasingly violent threats toward and harassment of public officials — from county clerks up to the president — are driving more and more of those figures out of their jobs, a particular concern among local election officials, who have struggled with attrition for years.

In the years since the 2020 election, roughly 50 percent of top local election officials across 11 western states have left their jobs since November 2020, according to a new report from Issue One, a bipartisan organization that tracks election issues and supports campaign finance reforms.

The election adminis

Blurb:

The SAVE Act, which would require “documentary proof of United States citizenship” to register to vote, is making its way through Congress. This is popular among Americans. So, why is there a holdup? Today’s show breaks it down.

“We just want to make sure that you are who you say you are. That’s it,” Crowder said. “I either encounter people who claim racism, because they are die-hard leftists, or the second group of people go, ‘what? We don’t have any ID requirements?’”

Over 80% of Americans agree with this, according to polling data released by CNN’s Harry Enten, including over 70% of Democrats.

“Everyone supports it except the Senate Democrats, who threatened a filibuster,” Crowder said. “They are willing to die on this hill to ensure that no one needs to present an ID to vote.”

According to the left, voter ID is racist.

“Here’s the truth, of course, not. The SAVE Act is popular among all racial groups, increasing year after year,” Crowder said.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump recently called on Republicans to “nationalize” elections to avoid widespread voter fraud.

As it stands currently, each state manages elections — including for federal candidates. Trump seeks to have the federal government take over voting procedures to prevent cheating. “The state acts as an agent of the federal government in elections,” Trump said while addressing reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “I don’t understand why the federal government doesn’t handle them anyway.”

This wasn’t the first time Trump called for nationalizing elections. During a Monday appearance on the Dan Bongino Show, he said, “the Republicans should declare, ‘We want to take charge. We should oversee voting in at least 15 areas.’ The Republicans should nationalize the election process.”