Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to debate the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act.
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The long embattled SAVE America Act would mandate voter ID laws nationwide, and require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The SAVE Act has two main objectives, Lee said, “Let’s make it easy to vote and let’s make it hard to cheat.”
Lee outlined its two mechanisms and said, “One requires at the time of a new voter registration for you to establish that you are in fact a US citizen. And the second would require that on election day at the time of voting you show up with a voter ID with a photo identification so that you can prove that you are who you claim to be.”
Republicans have taken this bill to the floor repeatedly since March, while considering different amendments from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in an effort to get it passed, but have failed each time.
Republicans have tried multiple procedural paths since March — a talking filibuster, two reconciliation amendments, by Kennedy and Graham, and Lee’s unanimous consent request — and none has resulted in passage.
Lee shared that 83% of Americans agree that voter ID laws should be in place, yet the Senate is split 50-50 on the bill. He said it’s concerning that the “overwhelming support [of ID laws] doesn’t match what elected federal lawmakers believe.”
He argued that in everyday life citizens use ID to go to the bank, doctor’s office, travel, and that you even need ID to use a “Never Ending Pasta Pass from the Olive Garden.”
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Lee said the “honor system” approach “must not be allowed to work in the context of our sacred elections.”
California senator blocks SAVE Act
Padilla blocked Lee’s unanimous consent request.
Padilla’s arguments centered around the issue of midterms and the bill’s timing, calling it “curious”. He said changing the law “creates chaos in the middle of an election that’s already underway.”
Padilla referenced Utah Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson who has said, “The SAVE America Act requires a voter to include a photocopy of their ID in the return envelope of a by-mail ballot, violating our constitutional right to a secret ballot.”
For the remainder of his turn, Padilla brought up rising prices for families, for gas, and the war in Iran. Referring to Trump, he said, “You would think that he or we could be spending more time on trying to bring down costs for working families.”
When it was Lee’s turn to object to Padilla, he was quick to call out Padilla’s irrelevant arguments. Lee said that at no point did his colleague object to the merits of voter ID laws.
He said, “Fine, let’s talk about tariffs on another occasion, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. This is a distraction, Mr. President.”
Lee also discredited the argument that “it’s too late.” For months Democrats have claimed that the bill is racist, sexist, and denies different groups access to voting, he said, and now “they’ve secured the delay.”
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