Tillis: SAVE America Act is ‘dead’ as time has run out to implement new voting rules

Senate Tillis: SAVE America Act is ‘dead’ as time has run out to implement new voting rules Comments: by Alexander Bolton - 07/02/26 11:50 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Alexander Bolton - 07/02/26 11:50 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) says the SAVE America Act, President Trump’s No. 1 legislative priority, is “dead” on Capitol Hill because there is not enough time to change election laws before the midterms — even if Senate Republicans muster 60 votes for the legislation, which is unlikely.

“Unless they do the work to get to the 60 votes, they know it’s dead, and so all this is theater,” Tillis told The News & Observer, repeating arguments he has made in Washington calling on GOP colleagues to move on to other priorities.

The North Carolina Republican continued, saying even if the election reform bill passes, there is no chance it is implemented before the Nov. 3 general election. The legislation would require proof of citizenship for people registering to vote and for voters to show photo IDs.

The senator, who is not running for reelection, noted that it took his state a full year to implement voter ID requirements.

“Honestly, here in North Carolina, or in virtually any state, the ability, if we go back to when we implemented voter ID in North Carolina, it took a year to get everything in place with adequate funding,” he said.

Tillis also pointed out the lack of adequate funding or clear instructions on how to implement such a law in all 50 states before Election Day.

“Let’s assume you only allow early voting in the month of October,” he said. “Then do you honestly believe that we can have this thing up in 50 states? There’s no funding. There’s no specific implementation instructions.

“It’s become a joke, in my mind for somebody that’s actually implemented voter ID law, how anybody can look the American voters in the eye and suggest that it could be implemented in time without just causing a huge impact on the elections, and ironically undermine the confidence of it,” the Republican added.

Tillis was one of four Republican senators who voted last month against an amendment sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to attach Trump’s preferred version of the SAVE America Act to a budget reconciliation package.

The amendment, which needed 60 votes to be adopted, fell short of getting even a simple majority after Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also voted against it.

The Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the SAVE America Act would enact major policy changes with only a tangential impact on federal spending or the deficit, which means it’s not eligible to pass with a simple majority under the budget reconciliation process.

No Democrat in the upper chamber of Congress supports the bill, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) has called “Jim Crow 2.0.”