Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters after a weekly Republican luncheon, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The SAVE Act – SAVE being an acronym for “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” is about to be another dreary example of Republicans failing to do what they were hired to do. The SAVE Act is stuck in the Senate and Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that he’s powerless to get it unstuck. With a hang-dog expression he mumbles about the “math” and the fact that the “votes aren’t there” and about the need to be “clear-eyed” about it all.
OK, how’s this for clear? Most voters – Republicans and Democrats – support the provisions of the SAVE Act. So much so, that the bill could be aptly called the “Common Sense When It Comes to Our Sacred Right to Vote Act.” That doesn’t lend itself to a handy acronym, but it would constitute truth in labeling.
What Thune apparently fails to understand is that the ‘SAVE’ label could also refer to, “SAVE the Republican majority in Congress,” and “SAVE the country from the ridiculous performance art of Democrats endlessly impeaching Donald Trump if they take over the House in November,” and “SAVE any hope for the GOP keeping the White House in 2028.”
The SAVE Act has five salient provisions. In a nutshell those provisions are a requirement for proof of citizenship to register to vote; standardization of voter registration procedures to help prevent fraudulent registration; a requirement for ID when you show up at the poll; a federal oversight mechanism for state voter registration procedures to ensure compliance; and the mandatory purging of voter rolls to get dead and ineligible voters off the rolls.
Here’s what’s infuriating about Thune’s flaccidity.
The SAVE Act isn’t controversial among the folks. This is one of those rare instances when all of us – Democrats and Republicans – pretty much agree on something. The SAVE Act enjoys upward of 85 percent approval in the polls. And it’s not partisan. Approximately three out of four Democrats support it.
Few of which Democrats are members of the U.S. Senate. Those Democrats are attempting to block it for one simple reason. They don’t like their party’s chances in free, fair, properly run elections. They need the option to cheat if they think an election might be close.
So, memo to John Thune. There’s a reason longtime Senator John Cornyn of Texas is hanging by a thread rather than enjoying safe, comfortable incumbency. There’s a reason that Democrats got more voters to the polls in Texas’s primary election last week than Republicans.
Republicans are fed up with the lack of results that establishment Republicans like you and Cornyn have delivered for too long. Republicans are becoming disheartened.
So, Mr. Thune, quit making excuses, start kicking some butts and get this bill passed. If you can’t pass a bill that is favored by nearly nine out of ten voters, you’re in the wrong line of work.
Pass this bill and you have a shot at prevailing in the midterms. Fumble, which you seem hellbent on doing, and the Democrats take over in November.
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