Washington Journal Open Phones examines the Save America Act, mandating photo ID and in-person citizenship proof while removing non-citizens from rolls. Senate Majority Leader John Thune notes the bill hinges on votes rather than strategy, despite a Marist poll showing 66% confidence in ballot accuracy against fraud fears. President Trump criticizes opponents as "horrible people," claiming 88% to 89% of Democrats support these measures. Viewers like Jay Lynchburg and Jason Burke argue ID is common sense, warning that without passage before November, Democrats may seize power to "destroy America." Ultimately, the debate highlights deep partisan divides over election integrity and the political stakes of upcoming legislation. [Automatically generated summary]
Wrapping up the House Republicans news conference this morning on this St. Patrick's Day, we joined it in progress.
If you'd like to see it in its entirety, go to our website, c-span.org.
Shortly, we'll hear from House Democrats and their news briefing that's coming up in just a few moments here on C-SPAN.
While we wait, I'll show you a conversation from today's Washington Journal.
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
Let's start with what's in the Save America Act.
We'll put that on the screen.
It requires individuals to present an eligible photo ID before voting.
That would be for all voters.
It requires states to obtain proof of citizenship in person.
When registering an individual to vote, that would also include if you're changing your registration, and that would be in person.
And it requires states to remove non-citizens from existing voter rolls.
That's the current Save America Act.
Well, here is Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
He was speaking to reporters last week about his strategy on this piece of legislation.
You run a risk of being on the wrong side of President Trump and your resistance to do this talking filibuster tying the Senate in knots for weeks.
We don't have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it.
But that is just a function of math.
And there isn't anything I can do about that.
I mean, I understand the president's got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do.
Does he understand that, though?
Well, we've conveyed that to him, but we will continue to make that argument because I think it's important that everybody understand that this really is about the votes.
It's about the math.
And for better or worse, I'm the one who has to be the clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.
And so we'll continue to convey that.
And I think that we're going to have the fight on the floor.
We're going to vote on this.
We're going to put it up.
And we'll give the Democrats the opportunity to cast their vote on whether or not they think non-citizens ought to vote in American elections.
And so that debate will happen.
But like I said, I can guarantee the debate.
I can guarantee a vote.
I just can't guarantee an outcome.
President Trump told me yesterday that it would take Democratic votes to pass the Safe America Act.
Do you think the MAGA base has an unrealistic expectation of passing that legislation without Democrats voting?
I think there are a lot of optimistic views about what Democrats may or may not do.
We all know, because we deal with them every day, that the Democrats are not all of a sudden going to decide that this is something they want to be for.
That was Senator Thune.
This is a Marist poll that was taken a few days ago about election security.
And it says that many Americans express confidence in their local and state governments to conduct fair and accurate elections in November's midterm elections.
However, the proportion has dropped since 2024.
More than six in 10 Americans think ballots will be counted accurately.
And when it comes to the biggest threat to safe and secure elections, about one in three mention voter fraud.
Here are the numbers that came out.
If you are very confident or confident, that was 66%.
Not very confident or not confident at all came out to 34%.
Let's go to President Trump now, who was in the Oval Office, and he was asked or he was talking about the lack of support from Democrats and some Republicans for the Save America Act.
The problem is we have a couple of Republicans.
They shouldn't be allowed.
They're horrible people and they're willing to vote against anything.
And we have all the Democrats who vote against it.
So I think it hurts the Democrats to vote against it because I'm going to instruct all the Republicans to say that so-and-so that they're running against voted against the saving of our children from transgender mutilation, right?
That's pretty unpopular.
They want men and women's sports.
That's pretty unpopular.
They want voter ID, but the Democrats don't.
Everybody wants voter ID.
Everybody wants proof of citizenship.
And most people don't want mail-in voting because they know it's a fraud.
Touches too many hands.
I mean, the postman gets it.
This one gets it.
That one.
So these are all issues that are in the 90s to 100.
I would say some are virtually 100%.
And the interesting thing is they're that way, not only with the Republicans.
I'm not talking about leadership.
I'm talking about they're that way also, most importantly, with the people.
The people of our country want voter ID.
The people of our country want proof of citizenship.
And that includes 88%, 89% of Democrats.
And I think the Republicans, Eric Schmidt, Rick Scott, Tabor Scott, I speak to so many of them.
They all want it.
I hope John Thun can get it across the line.
He's trying.
I mean, he told me this morning, I spoke to him, he's trying.
I think it'll be a very, very bad thing for our country if they don't.
We're just asking for basic things.
That was yesterday in the Oval Office.
And we'll go to calls now and start with Jay, Lynchburg, Virginia, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hey, good morning.
And yes, I am a true independent.
So when I speak on this, I think it is very common sense that we should have voter ID laws.
And every aspect of our lives is governed by voter ID.
I just really don't understand why so many people are opposed to the idea, as well as I think the messaging on why they're opposed to it.
So I'm a black man.
There's nothing preventing me from going and having a driver's license.
Nothing's preventing me from having an ID or anything that will require me to go vote if voter ID was legislation.
So when people say, oh, well, black and minority people would be impacted by this, one, it's a racial dog whistle of patriarchy to make them think that they're better than everyone.
But more importantly, I don't understand why people are opposed to the idea of voter ID, considering the amount of fraud that happened in 2016, as well as 2020 and 2024, because we understand that it is an issue.
So Jay Michael.
Yeah, Jay, what do you think about voting by mail?
Because that is something that the president has wanted to restrict or completely do away with.
What do you think of that?
So, again, I agree with that aspect too, because I just saw in my area a mailman threw three bags of trash and three bags of mail and a drag dumpster.
It's a flawed system.
If we really wanted to fix our elections, our election integrity, we would have elections for a week in that first week of November, make it a federal designation to allow people to go vote, and people have one whole week to vote.
If you can't vote in a week, you weren't supposed to be voting in that election anyway.
And no, people who are not U.S. citizens should definitely not be voting in elections.
I think we all can universally or citizen universally.
That is already a felony to register if you're not a citizen.
That is currently on the books.
Jason, Burke, Virginia, Independent Line, good morning.
Good morning.
I will have to ditto Jay, who just spoke of his feelings towards this.
I think there should be no question at all that people need to show ID to be able to vote in the United States of America.
That is exactly why we've had the problems we've got and we've got the corruption going on in these states that have provided license to people that shouldn't be having driver's license.
And that's why that second ID or proof of citizenship is required.
We need to correct this.
We need to vote this in, and it needs to be done before November.
Otherwise, the Democrat Party is going to do anything they possibly can to take power and continue to destroy America.