Durbin Calls Out President Trump’s Ongoing Attacks To Americans’ Voting Rights & Our Free And Fair Elections

Durbin Calls Out President Trump's Ongoing Attacks To Americans' Voting Rights & Our Free And Fair Elections

Durbin: "As we celebrate our country's 250th year of independence, we must join together in support of free and fair elections and condemn any attempts by this President or otherwise to undermine our democracy before it's too late."

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today called out the Trump Administration's ongoing efforts to undermine America's free and fair elections and restrict Americans' voting rights ahead of the midterm elections, including President Trump's repeated calls for Congress to pass the so-called SAVE America Act. Last week, Durbin joined a spotlight forum hosted by U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) on this issue.

"During the forum, we heard from a person who was a 15-year veteran in efforts to counter foreign malign influence across various government agencies-most recently at the Department of Homeland Security. She warned us, there are bad actors out there who will take advantage of the diminished federal effort to prevent foreign influence of our elections. She was specific-particularly under this administration, the Trump Administration, and DOGE… they attempted to and did gut the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, and dismantled the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force," Durbin said. "Unfortunately, instead of taking serious steps to counter real threats to our elections, the President's cherry-picked, so-called 'solutions' to problems are nothing more than attempts to rig midterm elections and cling to power."

Last week, in a social media post, President Trump said, "I will not approve [a] FISA [extension] without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it." This legislation would prevent many Americans from exercising their right to vote, including through requiring strict proof of citizenship requirements to register to vote. According to a nonpartisan study by the Brennan Center and the University of Maryland, more than 21 million Americans who are eligible to vote-or nearly one out of every ten voting age citizens-do not have documents readily available to prove their citizenship.

"For example, Republicans tried to sneak the SAVE America Act into the President's ICE and CBP funding bill as an amendment-but Democrats defeated it. Now, the President is back at it," Durbin said. "Republicans are blaming Democrats for holding up FISA. It turns out the President is holding it up to get his, what I consider to be unconstitutional, measure adopted by Congress. The bill, the SAVE America Act… would require all states to obtain proof of citizenship, in person, from people registering to vote. Most driver's licenses-the most common form of identification by most Americans-including most REAL IDs would not be sufficient to register to vote. Instead, people would need to provide birth certificates, or passports, or similar documentation that denotes one's citizenship."

During his speech, Durbin recounted a 2024 Bipartisan Policy Center analysis of the conservative Heritage Foundation's Election Fraud database which found only 77 instances where noncitizens successfully cast ballots from 1999-2023, each of which faced investigation by the appropriate authorities.

"The bottom line is this, it's a solution looking for a problem. It is not a problem. It is against the law for anyone who is not a citizen to vote, and they [Republicans] know it and they pay a price when they are caught," Durbin said. "If passed, this legislation would apply to this year's election-think about that in a matter of four and a half months. It would wreak havoc in communities across the country as voters are kicked off voter rolls and states scramble to implement drastic change."

Durbin continued, "Republicans with a historically unpopular President - let me repeat that, a historically unpopular President - don't think they can win this election without a boost. That boost will mean keeping people from voting that they think will vote the other way. So they've resorted to voter suppression to create a fighting chance in November. Don't believe me? Just ask President Trump, who claimed on social media and I quote, 'The Republican Party will never win another Election' without the SAVE America Act. He's pretty blunt, isn't he… But the SAVE America Act is just one piece of the puzzle in this larger scheme. The truth is, this President has been laying the groundwork to sow doubt and mistrust in our electoral process and disenfranchise American voters for some time now."

Durbin also spoke about how the Supreme Court recently cleared the way for Alabama Republicans to eliminate one of the state's two majority-Black districts as part of a plan to give Republicans an additional House seat in the state. This came after an earlier decision this term, Louisiana v. Callais, which significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act and opened the floodgates for Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps to gain a partisan edge and dilute the voice of Black Americans.

"Will this election in November deny to Americans who are legally eligible to vote the opportunity to do so? If so, it is one of the worst days in our constitutional history. We need to make sure that we guarantee people's right to vote. That's why I'm cosponsoring legislation entitled John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and I'm proud to lead it with my colleague, Senator Warnock of Georgia," Durbin said. "Our bill would restore and strengthen the landmark Voting Rights Act that has been under attack by the Supreme Court."

Durbin concluded, "As we celebrate our country's 250th year of independence, we must join together in support of free and fair elections and condemn any attempts by this President or otherwise to undermine our democracy before it's too late."

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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