ICYMI: Collins Backs Bill that Could Disenfranchise 300K+ Maine Women
Augusta, Maine – Susan Collins is once again providing a critical vote for Donald Trump – this time backing the SAVE Act and giving Republicans a “crucial vote” towards advancing legislation that could strip voting access from more than 300,000 Maine women.
According to the Center for American Progress, the SAVE Act would disenfranchise millions of American citizens. As many as 69 million women nationwide who have taken their spouse’s last name do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name.
In Maine alone, 343,619 women could face new barriers to registering or casting a ballot under Collins’ backed legislation.
Here’s what they are saying:
Portland Press Herald: Maine voters do not wish to be ‘saved’ by SAVE Act | Editorial
March 1, 2026
• Passed by the House, this wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing bill has been stalled in the Senate. Why on earth does it have Sen. Susan Collins’ support?
• Maine is not a state that is worried about voter fraud.
• We can say this with considerable confidence; a referendum question that would have placed limits on voting in the name of “election security” was defeated by voters, just months ago, by a lot. By 64.2% to 35.8%, to be exact.
• Maine’s Question 1 looks like child’s play compared to the federal SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) America Act, which would impose yet more stringent and onerous requirements on voters. The shorthand “voter ID bill” conveniently obscures the lengths the legislation goes to by focusing on the least oppressive of its measures.
• Question 1 would have introduced hurdles and labor for thousands of voters; the SAVE Act threatens to do that for millions. Would that it were only about the presentation of ID at the polls.
• Editorializing against Question 1 back in October, the Maine Trust for Local News board put it like this: “Trust in civic, social and political institutions and processes in America is swimming against a powerful current these days, and in recent months we’ve heard from plenty of concerned readers who say they just want things tightened up.
• Spiritually, the same criticism can be leveled against SAVE America, a pet proposal of President Trump’s — enthusiastically singled out as deserving of congressional support in last week’s State of the Union address, a very lengthy speech during which the president did not make mention of other sometime pets, like Greenland or Affordable Care Act subsidies.
• Listening to the president attempt to inject a sense of fear and suspicion Tuesday by saying that “they” (Democrats) are only concerned with “cheating” (“They cheat.”), it would be challenging for any of us to separate the drive to push this legislation through from mounting Republican anxiety about the outcome of the 2026 midterms.
• Due to the burdensome nature of its requirements, even the most wishful Republican supporter of SAVE must understand the high administrative unlikelihood of its being anywhere near implemented by that time.
• That hasn’t stopped almost every one of that party’s senators from lending their support to the bill, including Sen. Susan Collins, who surely heard about the comprehensive defeat of Question 1 in Maine last fall and can understand the message of jaded dissatisfaction that result was intended to send.
• This makes Collins’ support of SAVE a particularly defiant display of loyalty to the president — if not a complacent one.
Newsweek: Republicans Land Key Supporter of SAVE Act Ahead of Vote
• Republicans landed a key supporter of the SAVE America Act ahead of a U.S. Senate vote, with Senator Susan Collins of Maine saying she backs the House‑passed measure requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
• Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee, on X Friday: “We’ve got 49 Senate sponsors of the SAVE America Act and at least one more—Senator Collins—who supports it, and that takes us to 50! We now have enough votes to pass a motion to proceed to the House-passed bill—even without any additional votes—with @VP breaking the tie”
• Conservative influencer Nick Sortor, on X Friday: “MAJOR BREAKING: Susan Collins has now BACKED the SAVE America Act, meaning Republicans now have 51 VOTES in the Senate, including JD Vance LET’S GO!!! Time to finally NUKE the Zombie Filibuster and get this to Trump’s desk, @LeaderJohnThune!”
Washington Times: Susan Collins embraces SAVE America Act as GOP bets voter ID law is winner with electorate
• Ms. Collins recently jumped on the bandwagon, saying she supports the House-approved plan but won’t vote to eliminate the Senate filibuster to pass it.
• “The law and the Constitution are clear – citizens of other countries should not be voting in American elections,” Ms. Collins said in a fundraising email blast. “The radical Left is in a total frenzy.”
• The GOP has made the SAVE America Act a priority, arguing it is needed to prevent fraud and safeguard democracy ahead of the midterm elections, where Republicans will be defending their slim House majority.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has broken with fellow Republicans on the bill, warning it is a one‑size‑fits‑all solution and a step toward nationalizing elections.
• Ms. Murkowski and Ms. Collins often find themselves on the same page, but not this go‑round. Ms. Murkowski is not up for re‑election, while Ms. Collins is pursuing a sixth term and is the most vulnerable Senate Republican this cycle.
• Back in Maine, Democrats knocked Ms. Collins for embracing the plan.
Fox News: Collins boosts Republican voter ID effort, but won’t scrap filibuster
• Senate Republicans gained a key ally in their quest to enshrine voter ID into law, but the lawmaker’s support comes with a condition.
• The campaign has proven successful, with the cohort gaining a crucial vote from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who announced that she would back the SAVE America Act, which recently passed the House. With Collins, Senate Republicans have at least a slim majority backing the act.
• GOP senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, remain the only Republicans who have not pledged support for the SAVE Act.