After Sen. John Fetterman’s first year in office — marked by a noticeable shift to the right as he recovered from the massive stroke that nearly derailed his 2022 Senate campaign — satire site The Babylon Bee ran a brutal headline: “Weird: Man Becomes More Conservative As He Regains Brain Function.” The piece opened with the line, “In a bizarre coincidence, Senator John Fetterman has suddenly become more conservative after his brain resumed working.”
Happily, that trend has continued. The Pennsylvania Democrat has voiced strong support for Israel and tougher border security, and even backed several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Unsurprisingly, those positions have made him a frequent target of criticism from within his own party.
In an appearance on Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures, Fetterman once again ruffled Democratic feathers by affirming his support for voter ID laws, telling host Maria Bartiromo they were “a no brainer.”
Requiring citizens to show identification before casting a vote should be a no-brainer. But in today’s Democratic Party, it is considered sacrilegious.
Anyway, Fetterman’s public endorsement of voter ID laws spread rapidly on social media. And bucking his party once again, he found himself squarely in its crosshairs.
What does it say about the Democratic Party when a member supporting a position favored by 80% of Americans is considered newsworthy?
Well, voter ID laws affect Democrats in much the same way that kryptonite affects Superman. These laws diminish the party’s strength, instill fear, and incite outrage.
In other words, they make cheating in elections far more difficult. And without the competitive advantage of cheating, Democrats are likely to win fewer elections.
As tensions mount over the SAVE Act, which would require voters to present proof of citizenship when they register to vote, photo ID at the ballot box, and obligate states to remove noncitizens (and other ineligible individuals) from voter rolls, Americans must demand answers from Democrats. Why do they oppose a bill meant to safeguard election integrity? Why, when the vast majority of countries on the planet, including Venezuela, require citizens to show ID in order to vote, does America stand alone?
When Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) proposed attaching the SAVE Act to the massive funding package under consideration by the House last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) immediately rejected the idea.
In a post on X, Schumer wrote, “The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise millions of Americans. Every single Senate Democrat will vote against any bill that contains it. Speaker Johnson should tell SAVE Act Republicans to stand down or else this shutdown will be on them.”
In a separate statement, Schumer maintained that Democrats must defeat the SAVE Act to “defend free and fair elections.”
The last time the House considered including the SAVE Act in a spending bill, Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) offered one of the most specious justifications ever. In an interview with The Hill, she argued that it costs money to obtain IDs that some voters may not be able to afford. “The SAVE Act puts barriers on American citizens voting,” she said, “and actually is a modern poll tax.”
McClellan’s remarks should have been shut down immediately. Most — if not all — states already provide free or reduced-fee identification cards to residents who cannot afford them.
The SAVE Act will not disenfranchise any eligible voters. It will, however, prevent illegal ballots from being cast by those who have already voted, those who are deceased, those who have moved, and those who are not U.S. citizens.
I recall hearing the same objections from former President Joe Biden and most Democratic lawmakers in 2021 when Georgia passed its Election Integrity Act. Yet despite those warnings, voter turnout in the state exploded during the 2022 midterms.
Voter ID commands overwhelming support: 76% of black voters, 82% of Latino voters, and 85% of white voters favor it — along with 71% of Democrats.
In 2024, when Trump’s margin of victory far exceeded the margin of fraud, the issue carried less weight. However, in closer elections — such as the 2020 presidential election — even a small amount of fraud in the right states can decisively alter the outcome.
There are legitimate reasons why so many voters continue to question former President Joe Biden’s victory. The irregularities reported at battleground-state vote-counting centers on election night were numerous and striking. More than 1,000 sworn affidavits from poll workers in swing states alleging misconduct during ballot counting were summarily dismissed. Courts declined to hear their claims of impropriety and those raising concerns were called election deniers or conspiracy theorists.
Democrats, Big Tech, weaponized federal agencies, and the legacy media formed an unholy alliance that treated any discussion of fraud in the 2020 election as misinformation or disinformation. Much of this conduct was exposed by the Twitter Files.
Only now — long after Biden’s presidency has ended — are some of those issues beginning to be acknowledged.
Unfortunately, this belated recognition has not translated into meaningful reform among Democrats. For example, many blue state leaders repeatedly resist the Justice Department’s efforts to clean up state voter rolls, leaving in place bloated lists that include deceased voters, duplicate registrations, former residents, and non-citizens.
None of this should be controversial. Every American has a stake in ensuring that only eligible citizens cast ballots. Each time a non-citizen votes, a lawful citizen is disenfranchised.
The Democratic Party’s fierce opposition to even the most basic election-security measures is a flashing red warning sign. If we don’t have secure elections, we don’t have a country. It really is as simple as that.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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