Trump Cites India's Election System to Push SAVE America Act

President Donald Trump on Tuesday cited India's election system while renewing his demand for congressional passage of the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed bill that would impose stricter federal requirements for voter registration and voting. In a Truth Social post, Trump referenced a conversation with India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, and pointed to data from India's 2024 general election to argue that the United States should adopt similar mandatory photo identification rules. The White House has backed the legislation, which faces significant political obstacles in the Senate.

Trump's post stated that Kumar had recently asked the U.S. administration how elections could be conducted without valid photo ID. He pointed to India's 2024 Lok Sabha election, claiming it involved 646 million voters, with less than one percent voting by mail, and that every voter possessed a valid photo identity document. These figures align with official data from the Election Commission of India, which reported that 646.4 million votes were polled in the election. Postal ballots accounted for approximately 4.28 million of those votes, or about 0.66 percent.