How Trump's SAVE America Act would reshape voting and why critics are concerned

President Trump vowed this week not to sign any bills into law until a sweeping new voting

bill is passed. Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, takes a closer look at its prospects.

Early Sunday morning, hours after returning from Delaware where he took part in the solemn

observance of the return of remains of six U.S. soldiers killed, President Trump

posted about the Save America Act.

Quote, it supersedes everything else, he wrote, and, quote,

must go to the front of the line. I, as president, will not sign other bills until this is passed.

And perhaps most importantly, I'm asking you to approve the Save America Act.

If passed, the safeguard American voter eligibility or Save America Act would transform voting

in this country in two major ways. It would require all Americans to prove U.S. citizenship

when registering to vote, and it would require all voters to show an ID when voting in person or by

mail. Voters submitting absentee mail ballots would have to provide a photocopy of their ID.

The bill would also require states to frequently review voter rolls and remove any non-citizens,

and it would mandate states share voter registration data with the federal government,

which most states have refused to do a move backed by several federal judges.

We don't want people that aren't citizens of our country voting. We don't want people that aren't

studied, and we don't want people that can't love our country voting in our election. So it's

very simple. But it's not that simple. By any definition, the number of ballots cast illegally

and by non-citizens in American elections is incredibly small. We know our elections are more

secure than ever. We know we have more protections and checks and balances against fraud than ever,

and we also know that this administration has gone out hunting for fraud with all of the tools

for the federal government over the last year, and they have found virtually none.

A study by the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security found that of the 49 and a half

million voter registrations that were checked for the 2024 election, about 10,000 cases were

preferred for additional investigation of non-citizenship. That's roughly 0.02 percent of names processed.

In Georgia, a 2024 audit of its 8.2 million registered voters found only 20 non-citizens who

had registered. If you're a non-citizen and you sign under penalty of perjury that you are a

citizen and you're eligible to vote, you're committing a felony which could render you not only

deportable but also get your jail time and for what? For to have one vote. So it's really not the way

that elections are stolen. And Americans are not overly concerned about the chances of voter fraud.

In our new PDS News and PR Marist poll out today, 66 percent of Americans are confident their

state or local government will run fair elections in November, which is down from 76 percent in

October 2024. 33 percent of adults believe the biggest threat to safe and secure elections

is voter fraud. Republicans are much more concerned about this than Democrats.

You need an ID to go and purchase alcohol. You need an ID to go to the library and check out a

book. And so the president thinks you should have an ID to vote in our nation's elections.

But requiring ID documents like passports and birth certificates could disenfranchise millions

of people. If you're poor, you're moving a lot. You're say a student who's gone away to college.

You've changed your name because you've gotten married or for some other reasons.

All of those people would have more difficulty obtaining these documents.

About half of Americans don't have passports and many do not have a copy of their birth certificate.

The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that more than 21 million Americans lack ready access

to those documents. And voting rights advocates say the Save America Act requirements could

disproportionately affect older Americans and low-income voters. Another concern, newly married

voters. A 2023 Pew survey found that more than 80 percent of women and 5 percent of men

change or hyphenate their names after marriage, meaning their passport, birth certificate,

and other documents may not align requiring additional paperwork to register to vote.

I don't think there's anyone that wants ineligible voters to participate in our democracy.

Full stop. But what we do want to make sure is everyone who is eligible doesn't have obstacles

that they have to overcome in order to participate. When it comes to federal oversight of elections,

President Trump's outside allies are also pressuring him to declare a national emergency

around elections. We asked the president about this recently. Are you considering a national

emergency around the midterm election? We drove you there. There's been reporting that there's

an executive order proposed executive order about this. Are you looking at that? Are you considering

the president has also said he regrets not using the National Guard in 2020 to seize election

equipment. Our poll asked Americans how they feel about the National Guard around voting sites.

A slim majority of Americans oppose National Guard members around polling locations,

but 46 percent support this idea. Democrats and independents overwhelmingly oppose the idea,

but 73 percent of Republicans are in favor of having the National Guard monitor voting locations.

Are you surprised that 46 percent of Americans do support the idea of having National Guard's

people outside of voting locations? I was surprised at that. Look, it is illegal. It is against

federal law for troops or armed men. That's the term in the statute to appear at any voting

location. That is 18 U.S.C. 592. And hopefully the American people understand it. It is part of our

culture that we vote in a safe and secure environment. Mr. President, the Senate is

poised to take up the bill next week where it is expected to fail.

For the P.V.S. NewsHour, I'm Liz Landers.