The Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision on Monday allowing Mississippi to count absentee ballots that arrive up to five business days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion that "federal election-day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days thereafter; nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day."
President Trump, as USA Journal reported, responded by hopping on Truth Social to declare that "it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT." The bill would require documentary proof of citizenship at voter registration and impose limits on mail-in ballots, with exceptions for people who are disabled, ill, traveling, or deployed in the military.
Trump pointed out that "The House of Representatives has approved this vital Act, THREE TIMES," while the Senate "seems unable to do so." He then called out five Republican senators by name: Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell, saying there "can be no more excuses." Trump also described the current political moment as "one more dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th," which is the kind of statement that really lets you know a man is feeling passionate about mail delivery timelines.
Now here is where things get interesting from a pure Senate math perspective. Two of the five holdouts, Tillis and McConnell, are on their way out of the chamber. Getting them to cooperate at this stage is about as likely as getting your cat to fetch your slippers. Collins has an election coming up, so there is at least a theoretical universe in which political survival instincts kick in. Murkowski, on the other hand, continues to do whatever Murkowski feels like doing on any given Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Republican senators who actually want the bill passed are getting creative. Indiana Senator Jim Banks posted on X that lawmakers should attach the SAVE Act to basically anything that moves through Congress. "Let's add SAVE to the Housing bill. Let's add SAVE to FISA Reauthorization. Let's add SAVE to a new Reconciliation bill. We must pass the SAVE America Act," Banks wrote. "We must secure our elections once & for all." At this rate, someone is going to try stapling it to the lunch menu in the Senate cafeteria.
Utah Senator Mike Lee is reportedly pushing the same strategy of attaching the bill wherever possible.
Polling consistently shows that requiring proof of citizenship to vote is overwhelmingly popular with voters across both parties. The fact that Congress still cannot manage to pass something that nearly everyone agrees on is a masterclass in why the institution's approval rating hovers somewhere between "root canal" and "airport layover." Nearly a year after the bill was first proposed, it continues to sit there collecting dust, which at least proves that the Senate is consistent at one thing: doing absolutely nothing with remarkable efficiency.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
