There has been much discussion around the pros and cons of the SAVE America Act. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Republicans are fighting to pass the Act “to rein in the fraud permeating elections in many parts of the country.”

To the contrary, the Brennan Center for Justice noted that research has been consistent over many years that voter fraud is infinitesimally rare and almost never occurs on a scale that would affect an election outcome.

Even in Republican-run states few incidents of voter fraud are found. In 2022, the state of Ohio found only 75 ballots out of around 6 million cast in 2020 were deemed invalid. In a Newsweek article after the 2020 elections, the Associated Press contacted election officials in six swing states with over 25 million voters and reported that only 475 potential voter fraud cases were found.

The conservative Heritage Foundation in February 2026, noted that data for the years 1999-2023 “shows only 77 undocumented voters in 24 years of federal elections, an extremely tiny percentage.”

Sen. Susan Collins supports the SAVE Act as it is a “simple reform that will improve the security of our federal elections….” Others see it as voter suppression, as it would require voters to show documents like a passport or birth certificate to vote, something that 21 million citizens lack ready access to. To complete this with just seven months before the mid-term elections
would be chaotic.

The SAVE Act should be judged on its merits. If the goal is to root out election fraud, it doesn’t pass the test.

Tom McClain
Kennebunkport