Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Congress to approve the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, pointing to India’s massive electoral process as a gold standard for election integrity. In a recent statement on Truth Social, Trump highlighted that India’s recent general election successfully processed 646 million votes with virtually no mail-in ballots, noting that every single participant was required to present a valid photo ID. Citing recent comments from India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, Trump questioned why the United States lacks similar, straightforward identification requirements for its own federal elections.

The SAVE America Act is being promoted as a necessary step to ensure that only U.S. citizens have a say in American elections. Under the proposed legislation, voters would be required to provide clear proof of citizenship and valid identification to register. Furthermore, the bill seeks to tighten the use of mail-in ballots, restricting them to specific circumstances like military service or disability, and mandates that states actively purge non-citizens from voter registries. Supporters of the bill argue that the current U.S. system relies too heavily on self-attestation, leaving it outdated compared to nations like India and Brazil, which utilize biometric databases to secure their voting processes.