Collins boosts Republican voter ID effort, but won’t scrap filibuster
Senate Republicans gained a key ally in their quest to enshrine voter ID into law, but the lawmaker’s support comes with a condition.A trio of lawmakers, led by Sen. Mike...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senate Republicans gained a key ally in their quest to enshrine voter ID into law, but the lawmaker’s support comes with a condition. A trio of lawmakers, led by Sen. Mike Lee , R-Utah, have undertaken a campaign to convince their colleagues to support the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, working social media and closed-door meetings to secure the votes. The campaign has proven successful, with the cohort gaining a crucial vote from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who announced that she would back the SAVE America Act, which recently passed the House. With Collins, Senate Republicans have at least a slim majority backing the act. HARDLINE CONSERVATIVES DOUBLE DOWN TO SAVE THE SAVE ACT "I support the version of the SAVE America Act that recently passed the House," Collins said in a statement first reported by the Maine Wire. "The law is clear that in this country only American citizens are eligible to vote in federal elections." "In addition, having people provide an ID at the polls , just as they have to do before boarding an airplane, checking into a hotel, or buying an alcoholic beverage, is a simple reform that will improve the security of our federal elections and will help give people more confidence in the results," she continued. Collins noted that she did not support the previous version of the bill, known simply as the SAVE Act, because it "would have required people to prove their citizenship every single time they cast a ballot." ONLY ONE HOUSE DEM VOTED IN FAVOR OF VOTER ID, PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP IN US ELECTIONS Her decision gives Lee and Senate Republicans the votes needed to clear a key procedural hurdle in the Senate. "We now have enough votes to pass a motion to proceed to the House-passed bill — even without any additional votes — with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie," Lee said in a post on X. That tie-breaking scenario would only present itself if Republicans turn to the standing, or talking, filibuster. It's a move…