In a featured appearance on the Republican Study Committee’s Right to the Point podcast, election integrity activist Scott Presler amplified calls for voter reform while backing the SAVE America Act, highlighting grassroots momentum and urging Senate action following the bill’s passage in the House.
The discussion, hosted by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), focused on the stakes surrounding voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements — central provisions of the SAVE America Act, which passed the House on February 12 by a narrow 218-213 vote, with just one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), breaking party ranks. Presler, founder and executive director of Early Vote Action, has emerged as a leading grassroots force championing the bill, which builds on the original SAVE Act introduced in 2024 but never taken up by the Senate.
Presler detailed the origins of his group, explaining it was founded in response to election integrity debacles in November 2022. “If we don’t change the way that we vote and fight fire with the gosh darn flame thrower, well, we’re going to keep losing elections,” he asserted, referencing issues such as paper shortages and machine errors.
As the conversation turned to the realities of voter fraud, Roy pushed back on claims that the problem is overstated. “We’re finding examples. We’re going out and doing it,” he insisted, pointing to “literally the Department of Justice prosecuting fraud.” He recalled a case in which “an individual who was here illegally, registered to vote in Maryland and ended up being a school superintendent in Des Moines, Iowa.”
Roy pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi during a House Judiciary hearing: “I said, Attorney General Bondi, have you all been finding fraud and prosecuting fraud? She said, absolutely.” He added, “Even if we’re successful in arresting people, prosecuting them for fraud. Do you unring the bell of the vote that was cast? No. The vote gets cast.”
Presler spotlighted instances of alleged legal violations in swing counties, including Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he said Democratic Commissioner Diane Marseglia audibly declared during a meeting, “We’re not going to follow the law,” before attempting to count “misstated and undated” ballots against the law after the fact. He credited public pressure and social media attention with ultimately intervening.
He also cited Minnesota’s system of voter “vouching,” where registered voters can affirm the eligibility of others without ID, describing it as “trust me, bro” level security. “Tell me that didn’t make a difference in 312 votes,” he posed, referencing Sen. Al Franken’s 2008 election.
The bill is now in the Senate’s hands, where it faces the 60-vote threshold due to the filibuster. Presler reported that 41 senators had already signed on, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and called for public pressure to bring the bill to the Senate floor.
The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification at the ballot box in federal elections. It also directs states to purge non-citizens from voter rolls and allows information sharing between state election offices and federal agencies, including DHS.
“Ensuring that only American citizens vote in American elections, along with voter ID requirements, isn’t controversial — it’s plain common sense,” remarked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) echoed this, calling the bill “a constitutional and commonsense security measure.” Rap megastar Nicki Minaj also weighed in on the broader voter ID debate in a viral post on X, questioning why the issue is even under discussion and writing, “What sensible forward thinking cutting edge leading nation is having a DEBATE on whether or not there should be VOTER ID?!?!!!!”
Presler underscored what he described as broad public support for the legislation, asking Roy, “Can you think of, within your experience being a member of Congress, when was the last time we had 83% of the American people agreeing on an issue, and 76% of black Americans, 82% of Latino Americans, and 85% of white Americans agreeing on this piece of legislation.”
Roy replied, “I don’t know of one.”
Presler urged listeners to contact their senators directly, telling them to call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and press for the bill to be brought to the Senate floor for debate.
Roy emphasized that under current federal law, states such as Arizona are prohibited from checking voter rolls against federal citizenship databases for federal elections, leading Arizona to operate separate systems for state and federal contests. “So, this bill fixes that,” Roy explained, arguing that the SAVE America Act would allow states to verify citizenship for federal elections.
Presler pointed to religious accommodations within the legislation, referencing the Amish community in Pennsylvania, noting that many do not have driver’s licenses or traditional photo identification. “Our beautiful Amish, they don’t have driver’s licenses, and many of them may not have a photo ID,” Presler said, adding that if they provide proof of citizenship, he is “certain the Commonwealth is going to come up with their own state’s discretionary tool to have an affidavit or some sort of religious exemption.”
Roy then expanded on that point, stating that the bill specifically includes provisions allowing individuals with religious objections to photo identification to cast a provisional ballot and later demonstrate citizenship without a photo ID. Roy also addressed Democrat claims that the legislation would burden married women whose names have changed, calling that argument “a complete red herring” and noting the bill was revised to allow affidavits to address name changes.
Presler contended that senators “get to hide behind a 60 threshold,” adding, “We are forcing them to lift that cloak, lift that veil, and I think that scares the heck out of some of them.” He continued, criticizing the upper chamber’s inaction: “What they’re doing to y’all in the House, I think is disrespectful because you — the House — has its act together with one of the slimmest and narrowest majorities in American history.”
As the bill now awaits action in the Senate, Presler made clear he believes voters expect lawmakers to follow through. “The American people are not going to tolerate inaction, and we’re going to have your back, and we’re going to have the back of any people that are going to actually put forth legislation, which we gave Republicans the majority in 2024,” he stated.
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