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How Trump and His Allies Are Working to Depress Turnout, Immediate Voters and Steal the 2026 Election

Time to save America from the SAVE America Act.

Donald Trump’s second term has been marked by scenes of naked authoritarianism, from federal agents raiding a Georgia elections office to killings in the streets of American cities.

But there is another variety of authoritarian encroachment underway—this one calmly procedural, but with the potential to be just as devastating to American democracy.

Earlier this month, the House passed the SAVE America Act, which threatens to block millions from voting in November. It’s just one salvo in a multipronged Republican effort to undermine the midterms and lay the groundwork for a new round of 2020-style election denialism should Democrats win Congress. From the flurry of Trump-instigated redistricting efforts to the new FCC guidance that spurred CBS to pull Stephen Colbert’s interview with Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico, Trump and his allies are using every tool at their disposal to depress turnout, intimidate voters, and unjustly tilt the electoral balance towards Republicans.

Last spring, election-denier Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice began requesting confidential voter registration data from states and jurisdictions around the country—and suing those that refuse to comply. The information the agency collects is being shared with the Department of Homeland Security, which has launched its own effort to investigate naturalized Americans accused of voting before gaining their citizenship. And, shortly after January’s Fulton County FBI raid, Trump called for Republicans to “nationalize the voting,” though the Constitution he vowed to preserve, protect, and defend gives the executive branch no authority to manage elections.

If approved by the Senate, the SAVE America Act could be this administration’s most devastating blow yet to voter participation. The bill would require........

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