‘Save American’ Act? More like ‘Save Republicans’ | In Focus

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, February 18, 2026

If you are registering to vote in a federal election, should you have to prove you are an American citizen and present a photo ID when you cast a ballot? Do you want your private information such as your Social Security number as well as your voting history to be handed over to the DOJ? Do you trust the DOJ after what happened in Minneapolis with ICE?

President Trump knows he is very unpopular in the polls. The reality with the Save America Act is that President Trump is trying to rig the 2026 midterm elections so that Republicans win. If Republicans lose the midterms, the President will likely be impeached.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled House with a vote of 218-213 with only one Democrat voting in favor. It now goes to the Senate.

The intent of the bill is to make it harder for Americans to register to vote.

If you are a woman who took her husband’s name, you would not be eligible to register to vote because the name on your birth certificate does not match your married name.

If you don’t have a photo ID because you don’t have a driver’s license or a passport, you would not be allowed to register. Ironically, a lot of poor Republicans would also lose the right to register to vote.

There is a cost in time and effort to obtain proof of U.S. citizenship and to have an acceptable photo ID. Passports are expensive. It is a more sophisticated version of the unconstitutional poll tax where Blacks were required to pay to vote.

If you are a college student, your college ID would not be acceptable as proof of your identity according to the bill’s wording. (Nina Heller, “House Passes Revamped Citizenship and Voter ID Bill”: Tacoma News Tribune Feb. 12, 2026)

21 million Americans could be denied the right to register to vote and thus to vote because of these new restrictions.

It’s ironic coming from a president who continues to claim that the 2020 election was rigged while he and the Republicans are desperately plotting to rig the 2026 election.

Claims of extensive voter fraud are exaggerated at best and outright lies at worst. This is the Republican reason for these voting restrictions. But there is very little evidence of voter fraud.

The author of the aforementioned Tacoma News article referred her readers to The Heritage Foundation and its Election Fraud Map. I looked up Washington State’s list of fraudulent voters between 1982 and 2025.

There were 15 convictions of fraud. One of the 15 was convicted of voting in his wife’s name. He was barred from voting during a five-year supervision period.

One was put on a diversion program because he was an ineligible voter due to having been a convicted felon. (As of 2022, convicted felons are allowed to vote after they have served their sentences.)

Another Washington resident had registered her dog, Duncan, as a voter at the address when using an absentee ballot. She claimed she was “drawing attention to the flaws in the absentee ballot system. She received a one-year deferred sentence and was ordered to perform 10 hours of community service and pay court fees of $240.”

Using fear of voter fraud is itself a fraudulent argument.

The bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate because 60 votes would be needed to get past the filibuster rule. Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill was “dead on arrival.” Republican Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota appeared to rule out that idea, saying, “the strategy [to strike down the filibuster] could eat up precious floor time.” Thune sees the handwriting on the wall when Democrats will someday control the Senate and the presidency and may decide to use the lack of a filibuster to ram through legislation that Republicans object to.

What goes around comes around.

The “Save America Act” is an act of desperation on the part of the President who sees his third impeachment looming in 2027 by a Democratically-controlled House and possibly a Democratic majority in the Senate.

Perhaps the bill should have been called “Save Trump and the Republicans Act”.