House GOP advances nationwide voter ID bill ahead of pivotal 2026 elections

The House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill that would mandate photo identification for voters across the United States in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.

The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most bills go to a chamber-wide vote, advanced the SAVE America Act on Tuesday as conservatives continue to pressure the Senate to take up the bill after it is likely to pass the House.

This is a sweeping piece of legislation aimed at preventing non-citizens from participating in U.S. elections.

Democrats have criticized the bill, calling it voter suppression, while Republicans argue it is necessary after the influx of millions of illegal immigrants who came to the United States during the four years of the Biden administration.

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The House of Representatives is expected to vote on a federal voter ID bill before the 2026 elections. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters the vote would be Wednesday.

The legislation is led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, in the House, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in the Senate.

It is an updated version of Roy’s Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House in April 2025 but never passed the Senate.

While the SAVE Act would create a new federal mandate for proof of citizenship in the voter registration process and require states to keep their voter rolls free of ineligible voters, the updated bill would also require a photo ID to vote in any state. federal elections.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill October 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

It would also require information sharing between state and federal election officials to verify citizenship on current voter rolls and would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue immigration cases if noncitizens are found to be listed as eligible voters.

It is highly likely that the bill will pass the House, where the vast majority – if not almost all – Republicans have supported similar efforts in the past.

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But in the Senate, where current rules say 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster and hold a final vote on a bill, it would require at least seven Democrats, even if all Republicans remained united.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pauses to answer questions from reporters as he arrives for a closed-door meeting of the Republican Conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

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That’s why House conservatives are pushing Senate Republican leaders to change the rules in a way that would effectively remove the 60-vote threshold, even if alternative paths involve paralyzing the upper chamber with hours of nonstop debate.

“[Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.] will take it back. The only question is, is he going to accept it in an environment where it can happen?” Roy asked Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

“My view is that the majority leader can and should. I’m not afraid of amendment votes…we should table all their amendments, force them to repeat all their speeches, force them to take the floor and filibuster.”