• Today, the RNC and RITE PAC filed a lawsuit against the Virginia State Board of Elections challenging a provision in state law that allows non-residents to vote in the state’s elections.

• Supposedly written to allow military members to vote while living overseas, Virginia law currently allows individuals who have never lived in the state — or the country — to register and vote.
• These individuals are permitted to cast ballots in federal elections without establishing residency in Virginia.

“And if that noncitizen voted in a federal election, we’re referring those cases for federal prosecution. And there are some prosecutions like that that are being worked up by my friends in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Chuck Schumer criticized the proposed SAVE America Act, claiming that the legislation could purge millions from voter rolls.

The Senate minority leader also took aim at tech billionaire Elon Musk, alleging that an AI-driven system linked to his efforts could remove voters without notice. Schumer described the SAVE Act as a “pernicious” and “nasty” piece of legislation that he said could threaten voting rights across the country.

Speaking to reporters, Schumer claimed the legislation would allow large-scale purges of voter rolls using automated systems.

[He alleged that an artificial intelligence system connected to efforts by Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could remove millions of voters without notice.

The Democrat said, “Using an Al system set up by Musk and DOGE. So you could show up at the polling place this November, and they’d say you’re no longer on the rolls. They don’t even notify you of it.”

“Millions of people would be purged from their roles because of this system that Musk and DOGE put in. You wouldn’t be notified you’d show up at the polling place, and they’d say, sorry, Mr Jones, sorry, mystery, Miss Smith. You’re not, you’re not on the rolls anymore. They don’t even notify you,” he continued. See the video below:

Mahady Sacko, a 50-year-old Philadelphia resident who was ordered to be deported from the U.S. in 2000, “allegedly unlawfully voted in person in the 2024 general election for federal office,” and, “falsely represented that he was a U.S. citizen in order to vote and register to vote,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

An FBI special agent investigating the case said Pennsylvania state voting records showed Sacko also “voted in the following federal elections: the 2008 general election, the 2012 general election, the 2016 primary election, the 2016 general election, the 2020 primary election [and] the 2020 general election.”

“Sacko voted in person for each of these elections, except for the 2020 primary election, in which he voted by mail. On each occasion, Sacko falsely represented that he was a U.S. citizen,” the agent wrote in a criminal complaint.

We need to make sure the DHS, TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA—all those agencies—are funded. And so I’m hopeful there will be a breakthrough on that. That’s going to require some, obviously, cooperation from the Democrats, which we haven’t seen a lot of so far. But we want to get to the SAVE Act.

We also, as I mentioned, have got a housing bill that we can pivot back and forth to if we get a deal to open up the government. That’s harder to do once you’re in the throes of a talking filibuster. The talking filibuster issue is one on which there is not certainly a unified Republican conference and there would have to be.

If you go down that path, you’re talking about the need to table what are going to be numerous amendments and an ability to keep 50 Republicans unified pretty much on every single vote. And there isn’t support for doing that at this point.

As I’ve said, and we will, we will get on it, and we will have a vote on the SAVE Act. The context of that, the process in which we consider it, is still an open question, but one that we’re having conversations about. But clearly, there is not a unified position, at least among Republicans in the Senate.”

I know that this requires 60 votes, and you likely won’t get there without having to blow up the filibuster — which you likely won’t do either, or won’t have the votes for that. When you look at the polling out there, though — the Fox polling on voter ID — it is really remarkable.

Eighty-four percent of all voters out there believe in voter ID, requiring a valid form of state- or federally issued photo identification to prove their citizenship.

But take a look at where independents and even Democrats are: Democrats are at 70 percent, independents at 84 percent. This seems like a no-brainer. Are you going to put this bill on the floor, even though you won’t have the votes to pass it, just to get Democrats on the record? And if so, when?

[John Thune:

Well, we will. We’ll put the Democrats on the record. And it’s a stark contrast — the Democrats, even in the chamber last night, having to sit there and try and defend allowing non-citizens to vote in American elections. That is a losing proposition for them. So we will get a vote on it.

We are right now in the middle of a government shutdown, so we’ve got to try to get the government opened up first. But in due time, we will get that up on the floor. We will have a vote on it.

We will make sure that the Democrats are on the record. It is a stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats about how they want to handle elections in this country. And this is going to put them, I think, in a very difficult position. It’s an issue — if I were running as a Democrat in the midterm elections in November — I wouldn’t want to have to defend.