Senate rejects amendment to add voter ID requirements to budget package
Four Republican senators joined Democrats to defeat an amendment that would have attached the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act to the Senate reconciliation package. The vote occurred during a Thursday vote-a-rama on the roughly $70 billion budget measure.
Fox NewsThe amendment would have required documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration and photo identification when casting ballots in federal elections.
Vote outcome Sens.
Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Thom Tillis voted with Democrats to block the measure. The amendment was offered during debate on a roughly $70 billion budget reconciliation package intended to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
A Republican senator from Missouri said the outcome reflected frustration and argued that Congress routinely sets federal election rules.
Background on the measure The senator noted that 37 states already require voter identification, including several states that voted for Democratic presidential candidates in recent elections. The senator also pointed to Missouri's voter ID provisions that were added to the state constitution.
Opponents of the amendment argued that election administration should remain under state jurisdiction rather than federal oversight. The same senator rejected that position, stating that federal involvement in election procedures is longstanding and that protecting ballot integrity is a basic federal responsibility.
Congress has passed multiple election-related statutes in recent years, including the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022.
