What's in the voting bill that Republicans are pushing to the Senate
floor
[March 17, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation that would require proof of U.S.
citizenship for new voters has become a rallying cry for President
Donald Trump, who claims that passage of the bill will “guarantee the
midterms” for his Republican Party in November.
The bill, which the Senate will take up as early as Tuesday, would
require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register and to
present approved identification when they go to the polls, among other
new rules that Trump and his most loyal supporters are pushing as part
of an effort to assert more federal control over elections.
Federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S.
citizens. But the legislation would lay out strict new requirements for
voters to prove their status.
Democrats are uniformly opposed to the legislation and expected to block
its passage through the Senate. They say the legislation would
disenfranchise millions of American voters who don’t have birth
certificates or other documents readily available — both Republicans and
Democrats who would be newly registering to vote.
Despite the long odds of success, Trump has been pushing Senate Majority
Leader John Thune to move ahead with the bill and suggested Republicans
eliminate the filibuster or find another workaround to pass it. Thune
has repeatedly said there isn’t enough support in the Senate to do that.
Instead, Republicans plan to hold an extended debate on the bill for a
week or more, an effort to try and appease Trump and make Democrats
defend their position.
The bill would “require Americans to demonstrate that they’re eligible
to vote,” Thune said last week. “And that they are who they say they
are.”
Proof of citizenship would be needed for new voters
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, would
force Americans to prove they are citizens when they register to vote,
mostly through a valid U.S. passport or birth certificate.
Driver's licenses in many states would not be enough. The legislation
says that the identification must be compliant with new REAL ID rules
and also indicate that the applicant is a citizen of the United States —
which few state licenses do.
A person registering to vote could also present a passport or a birth
certificate. U.S. military members could present a military ID along
with a record of service that shows where they were born.
Most people registering to vote would have to present the documents in
person at an elections office, including people who vote by mail.
Advocacy groups that oppose the legislation say that the bill would
crush voter registration efforts ahead of this year's elections.
The bill would create new penalties for election officials who register
applicants who have not presented documentary proof of citizenship.
Opponents say that provision could potentially scare workers into
turning away valid applicants while also discouraging people from
working or volunteering at polling locations. It would also allow
private individuals to sue election officials in some circumstances.
Voter identification expansion would include mail-in ballots
While federal law requires that voters are U.S. citizens, there is not
currently a nationwide requirement that voters must show identification
when they go to vote. Currently, 36 states have voter identification
laws in place, some stricter than others, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures.
The bill would require voters in all states to present valid
identification, and those voting by mail would have to send a photocopy.
Overseas military and some qualified disabled individuals would be
exempt from those rules.
[to top of second column]
|
Primary voters arrive to cast ballots at an official vote center in
Dallas, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Republican supporters most frequently highlight this section of the
bill when pushing for its passage. Thune said last week that if you
have to show an ID to get a library card, “it’s not too much to ask
voters to show ID to vote in federal elections.”
States would be required to share their voter rolls
The legislation would require states to share voters' information
with the Department of Homeland Security as a way to verify the
citizenship of the names on the voter rolls — giving the federal
government unprecedented access to state voter data. Many states are
already embroiled in legal fights with the Trump administration over
demands that they provide voter information.
Supporters of the state-federal sharing say that it would enable DHS
to compare the state information with their own databases that are
used to verify immigration status.
But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer predicted that handing
over names to the federal government would allow DHS to ”purge tens
of millions of people from the voter rolls.”
Trump pushes for Republicans to add his other priorities
Senate Republicans are expected to offer amendments on the floor as
part of their talkathon in support of the bill. Trump has said he
wants more provisions added, including a ban on mail-in ballots,
which are used by many states.
Trump has long criticized mail-in ballots and used it as a central
argument in his false claims of fraud in the 2020 election he lost
to Democrat Joe Biden. But voting groups — and many lawmakers in
both parties — have long championed the practice as helping to make
it easier for Americans to vote.
The president also wants to add two unrelated provisions around
transgender rights issues — one that would ban those born as men
from playing in women’s sports and another to block sex reassignment
surgeries on some minors.
Many requirements would begin right away
If the SAVE America Act were enacted, the new rules for voter
registration and voter identification at the polls would take effect
immediately. Trump says it’s necessary for Republicans to win in the
midterm elections — even though they won both chambers of Congress
and the White House without the law in 2024.
With primary elections getting underway next month, critics say it
would be difficult and costly for state election officials to
implement, and could confuse voters.
Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, said he isn’t ”aware of
any state that currently requires what this would require.”
“If it’s passed tomorrow, the day after states would need to
implement this,” Elias said.
___
Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
