U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced Friday that she supports a nationwide voter ID bill backed by President Donald Trump but doesn’t back a rule change effectively needed to pass it.
This week, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the “Save America Act,” which would require documented proof of U.S. citizenship in order to vote in federal elections. The bill is now headed to the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Collins’ stance on this year’s bill matches her support of a similar measure last year, aligning her with Trump and the vast majority of her party on a hot-button issue. Her Democratic opponents seized on it in the middle of a nationally targeted 2026 campaign, but the bill remains unlikely to pass and therefore to become a major issue in the race.
The senator made her announcement to the conservative Maine Wire, noting that U.S. law is clear that only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections and winning her support required dropping a provision that would have required voters to prove their citizenship every time they vote. Under the bill, they would only have to do so when they register to vote.
“I oppose eliminating the legislative filibuster,” she said. “The filibuster is an important protection for the rights of the minority party that requires senators to work together in the best interest of the country.”
Trump has framed the bill as a national voter ID push, although it is slightly different than that. Democrats have argued it could still bar millions of people from voting, with the liberal Brennan Center for Justice saying 21 million Americans lack ready access to the documents that would be required to prove citizenship. Noncitizens are barred from voting in federal elections.
Collins’ best-known Democratic opponents, Gov. Janet Mills and Sullivan oyster farmer Graham Platner, criticized the senator’s position on the bill. Platner said on social media that it was a sign that Collins thinks “voter suppression is her only chance to stay in office.
“Unlike Susan Collins, who apparently would rather silence Maine people instead of listening to them, I’ll fight like hell to protect the right to vote for every eligible voter when I’m in the Senate,” Mills said in a statement.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.
