{"id":2576338,"date":"2026-03-05T08:06:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T08:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:08:04","slug":"north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"NC&#8217;s Two-Vote Race Is Exactly Why The SAVE Act Is Necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnorth-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2576338&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece reports on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-commit-1-million-to-boost-senate-candidate-don-bolduc-in-new-hampshires-razor-thin-race\/\" title=\"Republicans Commit  Million To Boost ... Candidate Don Bolduc In New Hampshire\u2019s Razor-Thin ...\">razor-thin race<\/a> in North Carolina\u2019s state Senate District 26, where Phil Berger trails Sam Page by two votes (13,075 to 13,077). it argues that in elections decided by such slim margins, ensuring that every vote counted is legitimate matters, and highlights the push for the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The act would amend the 1993 national Voter Registration Act to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ballots-cast-without-proof-of-citizenship-exploded-after-lawfare-crippled-arizona-election-laws\/\" title=\"Arizona&#039;s ... laws were weakened by lawfare, leading to a significant increase in ballots ... without proof of citizenship\">require documentary proof<\/a> of citizenship to register and voter ID to cast a vote; it has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate. Proponents say the measure protects election integrity by preventing ineligible ballots from influencing outcomes, while opponents contend that noncitizen voting is rare and the law would unfairly disenfranchise millions of eligible citizens. The article notes that even if noncitizen voting is uncommon, a close race could still be decided by such votes, and it references skeptical or dismissive takes from some politicians and media outlets about the issue. Brianna Lyman, an elections correspondent for The Federalist who wrote the piece, is identified along with her background and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lets-talk-about-our-relationship-with-the-state\/\" title=\"Let&#039;s Talk About Our Relationship with the State\">social media handle<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gageskidmore\/51336030199\">Gage Skidmore\/ Flickr<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>        <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/05\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=North%20Carolina%E2%80%99s%20Two-Vote%20Race%20Is%20Exactly%20Why%20The%20SAVE%20Act%20Is%20So%20Necessary&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/05\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=North%20Carolina%E2%80%99s%20Two-Vote%20Race%20Is%20Exactly%20Why%20The%20SAVE%20Act%20Is%20So%20Necessary&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/05\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\" https:><\/path><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/05\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=North%20Carolina%E2%80%99s%20Two-Vote%20Race%20Is%20Exactly%20Why%20The%20SAVE%20Act%20Is%20So%20Necessary&amp;body=When%20elections%20are%20decided%20on%20razor%20thin%20margins%20like%20this,%20every%20single%20vote%20matters%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/05\/north-carolinas-two-vote-race-is-exactly-why-the-save-act-is-so-necessary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>The North Carolina Republican primary for state Senate District 26 is currently separated by two votes. <\/p>\n<p>Yes, two votes. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1025305159\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Phil Berger is currently trailing Sam Page, with the former having 13,075 votes and the latter having 13,077. <\/p>\n<p>When elections are decided on razor thin margins like this, every single vote matters, which is why it&rsquo;s important that the only votes cast and counted are votes that are legitimate and legal. It&rsquo;s precisely why legislation like the SAVE America Act is so important. <\/p>\n<p>Noncitizen voting is already illegal, but the current law is largely toothless. Prospective voters simply check a small box on the federal registration form attesting under penalty of perjury that they are a United States citizen. In other words, it&rsquo;s the honor system.<\/p>\n<p>Now it&rsquo;s not to say that any noncitizens illegally cast a ballot in this race, to be clear. <em>But<\/em> it is to say that when the margin is two votes, simply trusting voters were truthful on their registration form is not a sufficient safeguard. <\/p>\n<p>The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/09\/04\/biden-admin-dismisses-noncitizen-voting-because-its-already-illegal-just-like-shoplifting-and-drunk-driving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Act<\/a> would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to require documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote as well as voter ID to cast a vote. The legislation has already passed the House and is now stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate despite a majority of Americans supporting such commonsense measures.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation would ensure that only American citizens are casting votes and that American elections are decided by Americans. <\/p>\n<p>Opponents of the legislation have argued, however, that the legislation is unnecessary because noncitizen voting is &ldquo;rare.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>California Democrat Sen. Alex Padila <a href=\"https:\/\/www.padilla.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/padilla-statement-on-republicans-latest-attempt-to-pass-save-act-to-suppress-the-right-to-vote-for-millions-of-americans\/\">said<\/a> noncitizen voting is &ldquo;already a felony and it is extremely, extremely rare. This bill does nothing to secure our elections while seeking to disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>California Rep. Scott Peters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RepScottPeters\/posts\/the-save-act-would-solve-a-problem-that-is-virtually-nonexistent-while-preventin\/1459685818877410\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> the legislation would &ldquo;solve a &lsquo;problem&rsquo; that is virtually nonexistent, while preventing millions of Americans from being able to use their voice and vote in our elections.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RepChrissyHoulahan\/posts\/last-night-during-the-state-of-the-union-president-trump-claimed-the-save-americ\/1318050713468344\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> voter fraud is &ldquo;extraordinarily rare&rdquo; and that when it does occur it&rsquo;s overwhelmingly &ldquo;committed by U.S. citizens.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The reasoning is that it&rsquo;s rare, so it doesn&rsquo;t matter. But &ldquo;rare&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t mean nonexistent. Just recently, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/22\/noncitizen-says-she-voted-in-multiple-georgia-elections-they-gave-me-a-paper-to-sign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Melanie Pickett<\/a>, a Bahamian native, admitted that despite not being a U.S. citizen she has voted multiple times in American elections. If an election is separated by two votes &mdash; or even one vote &mdash; then illegal votes are not insignificant &mdash; in fact, they could be decisive.<\/p>\n<p>And even <em>if<\/em> authorities catch a noncitizen voting in an election, it won&rsquo;t change the outcome, because once a ballot is cast, it&rsquo;s counted. There is no removing the vote from the total tally. And in a race decided by two votes, a handful of ineligible votes can override and &mdash; to borrow a term from Democrats &mdash; &ldquo;disenfranchise&rdquo; American citizens&rsquo; votes. <\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the propaganda press has largely used the same line of reasoning to try and help their Democrat allies dismiss the importance of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/06\/democrats-hate-the-save-act-because-they-want-illegals-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SAVE America Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections and there is no indication it&rsquo;s happening anywhere in significant numbers,&rdquo; The Associated Press&rsquo; Ali Swenson <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/voting-immigrants-noncitizen-trump-republicans-2024-1c65429c152c2a10514b5156eacf9ca7?taid=6648a21dd6100c00010e5c7f&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Noncitizen voting is rare,&rdquo; Politico&rsquo;s Dana Nickel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/02\/17\/save-act-election-security-noncitizen-voting-00782470\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>. &ldquo;Why is Washington so focused on it?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>NPR&rsquo;s Miles Parks previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/07\/30\/nx-s1-5462836\/noncitizen-voting-trump-ceir-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>: &ldquo;Despite grand claims, a new report shows noncitizen voting hasn&rsquo;t materialized.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >close elections don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t make election security less important. If anything, they make it more important.  <\/p>\n<p>If two votes can decide an election, then the SAVE America Act isn&rsquo;t unnecessary.  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Brianna Lyman<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/briannalyman2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@briannalyman2<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/briannalyman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/election-integrity\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">election integrity<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/election-security\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">election security<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/elections\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Elections<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/north-carolina\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">North Carolina<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/save-act\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">SAVE Act<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/save-america-act\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">SAVE America Act<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voter-id\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voter ID<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NC Senate 26 race: Berger trails Sam Page by 2 votes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2576339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/51336030199_0c08ec5604_k-e1772687724231.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[73478,70168,72683,73324],"class_list":["post-2576338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-election-reform-2","tag-north-carolina-2","tag-save-act-2","tag-voting-rights-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/51336030199_0c08ec5604_k-e1772687724231.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2576338"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2576342,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576338\/revisions\/2576342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2576339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2576338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2576338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2576338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}