Congressional Bills Threaten Federal Takeover of Elections

President Trump’s recent statements reinforce a cornerstone of his election agenda: to assert federal control over elections. The U.S. Constitution clearly grants states primary authority over election administration. However, Trump and his allies continue to explore ways to put the federal government’s thumb on the scales.

Their latest efforts are reflected in three pending bills in Congress: the SAVE Act, the SAVE America Act, and the ‘Make Elections Great Again’ (MEGA) Act.

Trump’s Agenda: Federal Takeover of State Elections At the Expense of Voters

The courts have repeatedly repudiated key provisions of Trump’s March 2025 executive order. Among other provisions, the order sought to impose onerous proof-of-citizenship requirements on voter registration. It also aimed to limit the period during which states may accept mail ballots.

Undeterred by the questionable legality of these efforts, the administration has doubled down on its efforts to strong-arm state officials. These efforts include the Department of Justice demanding that states turn over sensitive voter information, and ordering the late-January surprise raid on Fulton County election facilities to seize ballots and other materials from the 2020 election.

The administration has had mixed success in the courts and in the states. However, Trump has also recruited allies in Congress to seize control of elections and limit voter freedom. Currently, three bills are pending in Congress that would impose sweeping nationwide voting restrictions. These bills are unlikely to pass at this time. However, they offer a roadmap for Trump and his allies to interfere in election administration in every state.

The SAVE Act Would Create Insurmountable Barriers for Eligible Citizens

Taking early inspiration from the president’s election agenda, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act was introduced shortly after the start of the 2025 session. It passed the House by a narrow margin in April. 

This bill would require anyone registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentation verifying U.S. citizenship. For most Americans, this would require either a U.S. passport or a certified birth certificate, which presents several challenges. For example, married women who changed their names lack a birth certificate reflecting their current name. Americans who moved across state lines would be forced to chase down certified records from their former state of residence. Additionally, studies indicate that fewer than half of U.S. citizens hold a U.S. passport. 

Supporters of the SAVE Act’s efforts to rebrand the bill as “voter ID” vastly underestimate its impact. In states that currently require voter ID, the most commonly used form of ID is a state-issued driver’s license. However, not even a REAL ID would be sufficient under this law. Nearly every form of REAL ID lacks the citizenship markers required by the SAVE Act. 

State-level efforts to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements have invariably led to the exclusion of eligible U.S. citizens from voting. Election officials in states that have tried this approach now warn of the negative impacts of such legislation. 

The SAVE Act passed the House but appears stalled in the Senate and is unlikely to pass.

The SAVE America Act Seeks to Force Federal Oversight of State Voter Rolls, Targets Vulnerable Voters

Just days after the Fulton County raid, the original sponsors of the SAVE Act in the U.S. House unveiled a new attempt to interfere in state-run elections, titled the SAVE America Act. The new bill goes further, adding voter ID requirements for in-person and mail voting in federal elections that exceed current state requirements. 

Excessive ID Restrictions

Most notably, the bill would only accept a photo ID for voting in person or by mail under one of two conditions:

1. Even a government-issued photo ID must include an explicit marker that the person is a U.S. citizen. Few state-issued driver’s licenses would meet this requirement. States generally issue REAL ID based on lawful presence rather than citizenship.
2. States may exempt themselves from the requirement for a citizenship marker on voter IDs if they submit their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security for citizenship verification through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program. Questions about the accuracy of the SAVE Program persist. Recent state attempts to use the database have mistakenly flagged eligible voters as potential noncitizens.

The SAVE America Act would place state election officials in a potentially unresolvable quandary. They can either comply with federal demands or block eligible voters who do not meet the new requirements from voting. Every court ruling to date has held that federal authorities don’t have a right to access the voter rolls. Sharing them likely violates state and federal privacy laws.

The SAVE America Act would also exclude student IDs and public assistance IDs, even if issued by a public institution or agency. Students would be unable to use their student IDs to vote in person in the state where they attend school or by mail in the state where they reside in the summer. The strict requirements would also likely eliminate the use of many tribal IDs as voter IDs.

The MEGA Act Would Take Trump’s Elections Executive Order Even Further

House members introduced the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act on the same day as the SAVE America Act. This bill includes proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements. It also features provisions that limit vote-by-mail and reduce protections against voter registration cancellations shortly before elections. The MEGA Act contains several provisions from the Trump executive order that have been struck down in various courts:

• Imposes an onerous documentary proof of citizenship mandate for voter registration, similar to the other two bills.
• Prohibits states from accepting ballots postmarked by Election Day if election officials receive them after polls close.
• Requires state officials to cooperate with federal law enforcement in investigations and prosecutions of alleged election irregularities.
• Establishes burdensome restrictions on certain types of voting equipment currently in use in some states.

Limits to Vote by Mail

The MEGA Act also includes restrictions on mail voting. These restrictions are based on long-standing, unfounded theories about the security of mail voting. Among its provisions, the bill would:

• Eliminate automatic vote-by-mail systems. These systems send mail ballots to all active registered voters for each election. They are currently used in general elections in eight states. 
• Eliminate permanent mail voter lists. These lists allow voters in 19 states to request ballots to be sent to them automatically before each election. 
• Restrict voter assistance for ballot return and enforce these restrictions with federal criminal penalties.

Open the Door to Voter Purges

Voters would also have fewer protections against wrongful cancellations of their registrations close to Election Day. This would leave them with insufficient time to prove their status. The bill would:

• Reduce the current 90-day “quiet period” – in which election officials may not cancel registrations through systematic list maintenance —to just 15 days before an election.
• Allow cancellations for suspected non-citizenship to occur at any time. Removing these safeguards could result in eligible voters having their registrations cancelled, with insufficient recourse to vote in an upcoming election.

What Happens At the Federal Level Could Trickle Down to States

The likelihood that Congress passes any of these bills appears slim at present. However, these bills provide a roadmap for state lawmakers and election administrators to implement some of these changes at the state level ahead of this year’s midterms.

Opponents of these extreme restrictions should be prepared to engage with state legislatures during ongoing legislative sessions. They should continue to monitor state and local rulemaking bodies throughout the summer and fall. These actions will ensure that these federal proposals concerning election administration do not trickle down to the state level ahead of the 2026 midterms.