Memo To Senate: Saving America’s Elections Is Your No. 1 Job

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, maybe the best Republican the Democrats have ever had, doesn’t want to waste her time with such inconsequential things as election integrity, particularly making sure noncitizens don’t vote in U.S. elections. So what’s important to the Alaska RINO? Why, “Native Hawaiian women,” of course. 

That’s the resolution Murkowski proudly lobbied for in the Senate this week as she works with Democrats to kill the SAVE America Act. Senate Resolution 650, which recognizes “the heritage, culture, and contributions of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women in the United States.” 

You’ll be glad to know that Murkowski’s priority was considered Wednesday and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent. Just like that. 

The republic is saved!

Murkowski has said she won’t support the voter verification bill, anyway. The Republican has been a perfect Democrat on the subject, using the same inane and false fearmongering arguments as the left has in her opposition to legislation whose key component is supported by north of 80 percent of Americans. 

She’s not alone though. As the Republicans in the Senate continue to hold the floor for what could be a lengthy debate on the SAVE America Act, the banal business of the august upper house goes on. 

On Thursday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., introduced the Local Data for Better Conservation Act. The proposal, according to the senator’s office, would “amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require federal officials to accept and incorporate data collected by state wildlife agencies when making listing and delisting determinations for endangered and threatened species.” 

Fair enough. There’s definitely merit to the bill. But it sure seems like there are bigger fish to fry at the moment.

Lummis has been a vocal supporter of the SAVE America Act, which, at its core, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to vote in federal elections. But, alas, the Senate remains no place for pressing business and urgent action — unless the urgency is earmarks for special pork barrel projects. 

‘Important and Consequential’

Some CINOs (conservatives in name only) still don’t get it. President Donald Trump is right when he says the SAVE America Act is “one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself.” It’s right to be his No. 1 priority — at least domestic priority. He is right to threaten to withhold support from Republicans who oppose it. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has done well to get the legislation to the floor for extended debate. Now he needs to pull every lever at his disposal to keep the debate going until he has the votes to pass legislation that will secure our elections and restore faith in them. 

But that will take some mountain moving, that is, applying enough pressure on the ultimate culprits in this war for election integrity: Democrats. That’s a job, frankly, that the Senate’s middling Republican majority can’t handle on its own. 

Facing a barrage of lies from the party of election-integrity deniers — for example, “the SAVE America Act will make it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote in our elections” — and the propaganda press covering for their preferred party, Senate Republicans need lots of backup. And they’re getting it from election integrity advocacy organizations like the Election Integrity Network. 

The groups have rallied conservatives and independents across the country to contact their senators, particularly the intransigent Democrats, and remind them they face an 80-20 issue. Voting against voter ID could prove hazardous to one’s political health.  

Let Them Know 

As Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said on the floor this week, the legislation shouldn’t be controversial. Congressional Democrats are in the extreme minority in their own party on the subject of voter ID. 

“Polls show that even around 70% of Democrats believe voter ID is common sense and essential for fair elections,” Marshall said. “It’s something most of us do every day — show an ID to board a plane, to open a bank account, to buy alcohol, to get a hotel room, to purchase some prescriptions. Why should voting, the most sacred act in our republic, be the only place where we don’t ask for basic proof — that you’re eligible, that you are who you say you are.”

It shouldn’t. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., needs to hear just how important the SAVE America Act is to his constituents. Call him. Tell him. Chuck’s D.C. office number is (202) 224-6542. Fax him, if you’re in a ’90s mood. His fax number is (202) 228-3027.

While you’re at it, here’s the full contact list for every U.S. senator. Tell them what they need to do to SAVE America — and much more important to them, their jobs.  

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.