Senator Josh Hawley expressed frustration after four Republican senators voted with Democrats to block the SAVE Act, a Trump-backed voter ID amendment, during a recent Senate vote.
Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, voiced his discontent with four of his GOP colleagues who sided with Democrats to defeat the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. This amendment aimed to enhance voter ID requirements and was part of the Senate’s reconciliation package.
During a vote-a-rama on Thursday, Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joined Democrats in rejecting the amendment. Hawley expressed his bewilderment at their decision, stating, “You can’t explain it to me why you wouldn’t vote for voter ID.”
Hawley elaborated on his frustration in an interview with Fox News Digital, emphasizing that voter ID laws have been successfully implemented in Missouri, where they are enshrined in the state constitution. “Voter ID is the most popular thing out there,” he asserted. “There’s a reason for that. People want their elections to be safe, they want them to be fair. And to me, you can’t explain it to me why you wouldn’t vote for voter ID. I just don’t understand it.”
Despite months of debate surrounding the importance of the SAVE Act, Republicans were unable to pass the legislation during the Senate vote on Thursday night. The amendment was intended to be attached to a budget reconciliation package that allocated approximately $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.
Opponents of the SAVE Act, including some of the Republican senators who voted against it, argued that voter ID laws and election integrity measures should be determined at the state level rather than through federal legislation. However, Hawley countered this perspective, asserting that Congress has historically played a significant role in regulating federal elections.
“We make federal rules all the time for elections, you know,” Hawley stated. “I mean all the time we do. And there’s nothing more basic than protecting the integrity of the ballot, and that’s what this is about.”
He also pointed out that Congress has enacted various election-related laws over the years, including the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, which revised the procedures for certifying presidential election results. The SAVE Act would require voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and mandate that voters present photo identification when casting their ballots.
“Thirty-seven states have voter ID already, including several blue states,” Hawley remarked, addressing the argument that election rules should be left solely to the states. “So I think this idea that this is like ‘this is weird, this is exotic, this is out there,’ no it’s not. Like most of our states do it.” He concluded by expressing confidence that the American public would eventually demand such measures, stating, “Sooner or later this is going to happen because I think the American people are going to demand it.”
According to Fox News, the ongoing debate over voter ID laws continues to be a contentious issue within the political landscape, reflecting broader discussions about election integrity and access across the United States.