More Republicans have signed on to co-sponsor a broad elections overhaul bill after President Donald Trump urged the party to “nationalize” elections—while continuing to repeat false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 contest.
The proposal, titled the “Make Elections Great Again Act,” was introduced last week and would reshape voting rules nationwide by setting stricter standards, including new photo ID requirements for voters.
Why It Matters
Trump has escalated his long-running effort to discredit the 2020 election results, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. He continues to claim—without substantive evidence—that widespread fraud cost him the election, repeatedly promoting widely debunked assertions about altered or stolen ballots and allegations that noncitizens voted in states he lost.
His latest remarks arrive as the administration and congressional Republicans turn toward election policy ahead of November’s midterm elections, when control of Congress will again be at stake.
What To Know
The bill was introduced in the House on Friday by Representative Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican and chair of the House Administration Committee, with 24 co-sponsors.
On Monday, an additional 14 Republicans joined as co-sponsors, including Florida Representative Byron Donalds and New York Representative Claudia Tenney.
Among its provisions, the legislation would:
- Require photo identification as part of voting requirements.
- Direct states to verify citizenship for individuals when they register to vote, beginning in 2027.
- Ban universal vote-by-mail and ranked choice voting, with those prohibitions taking effect immediately if the bill becomes law.
- Require each state to maintain “a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerised statewide voter registration list” that would serve as the official voter roll for federal elections in that state.
Trump’s call to “nationalize” elections cuts against the constitutional framework under the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause, which assigns election administration primarily to the states.
The push also follows a recent FBI action in Georgia: on Wednesday, the agency served a search warrant at the election headquarters of Fulton County, amid a probe tied to the 2020 election results.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Trump’s remarks on Monday, calling the idea “outlandishly illegal.”
Schumer also pointed to another Republican-backed measure, describing the SAVE America Act as one of the vehicles Republicans are using to pursue a more centralized approach. He said the bill combines a photo ID requirement with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House last year.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump, on The Dan Bongino Show on Monday:
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
Rep. Bryan Steil, in a statement:
“Americans should be confident their elections are being run with integrity – including commonsense voter ID requirements, clean voter rolls, and citizenship verification. These reforms will improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.”
Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, on X on Monday:
“This is what corruption looks like. The President is misusing federal law enforcement to try and rewrite elections, while Republicans try to push voter suppression bills through Congress. We won’t let it happen.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, on the Senate floor on Monday:
“Just a few hours ago, Donald Trump said he wants to nationalize elections around the country. That’s what Trump said. You think he believes in democracy? He said ‘we want to take over’…does Donald Trump need a copy of the Constitution? What he’s saying is outlandishly illegal.”
Schumer added:
“Make no mistake, one of the tools to nationalize elections is precisely the SAVE Act that some Republicans are pushing in the House. I want to be very clear, the SAVE Act is dead on arrival in the Senate and every single Senate Democrat will vote against any bill, any bill, that contains it.”
What Happens Next
Both measures face an uncertain path in a narrowly divided Congress. Democrats have previously rejected similar proposals, arguing that stricter registration and ID requirements could make voting harder and potentially disenfranchise eligible voters.
