By Cliff Maloney
Democrats have been fighting tooth and nail against the SAVE Act since it was first introduced in 2024, but this shouldn’t surprise anyone since they’ve also been fighting any level of voter ID for decades now.
But New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent “promise” to launch five government-run grocery stores across New York offering a 30 percent discount on all groceries highlights Democrats’ hypocrisy. When asked how he plans to ensure non-New Yorkers can’t buy these “discounted” groceries, his answer was a “library-esque” ID card that only New York citizens could get.
In other words, a government ID.
Yes, he will be demanding the same kind of government ID that Democrats have almost universally claimed is an act of “voter suppression” targeting low-income and minority voters.
But don’t take my word for it — here are just a few examples of prominent Democrats vehemently expressing their opposition to voter ID:
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro recently claimed that “We are not going to turn our elections over to Donald Trump.” California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law to completely ban local voter ID requirements. And Matt Dietrich, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said that Illinois does not require voters to show any type of photo ID at the polls, and went on to say voters only need to sign a sworn statement on their voter registration application that they are a U.S. citizen.
The reality is that we absolutely need to secure our elections so that only legitimate U.S. citizens can vote in our elections. And this isn’t a vague, hypothetical “What if someone might be able to fraudulently vote,” because we have numerous cases of well-documented voter fraud.
One of the most recent examples was aired live on NBC, when analyst Steve Kornacki learned (or should I say, leared?) that five USB drives from the Milwaukee elections had mysteriously been lost, and with them, all voting and chain of custody records.
Convenient, right?
And this isn’t an isolated incident. There were 45 documented cases in Pennsylvania over the last few years, where Governor Josh Shapiro has consistently fought against any common-sense voter ID laws. California, under the “leadership” of Governor Gavin Newsom, had a staggering 71 cases. And Illinois put both to shame with an almost unbelievable 117 cases.
I want to emphasize that these aren’t mere accusations or even evidence-based speculation — they are criminal convictions for the very act that Democrats keep insisting never happens. And they almost always benefit Democrats.
While I am a mathematician (former mathematics teacher here), you don’t have to be one to understand that it’s statistically impossible for this to simply be a coincidence.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been so supportive of voting reform. We need to do far more to fight voter fraud, but we’ve been met with increasing resistance from Democrats at every step, and it’s easy to see why.
And contrary to what the Democrats and mainstream media keep telling us, American citizens want voter ID too. In fact, this is one of the most common issues I hear in my door-knocking efforts with Citizens Alliance. We knock millions of doors every year to speak with average Americans all over the country about the issues that matter most to them, and almost universally, they say they want elected officials to implement a requirement for Federal voter ID laws.
So what’s the solution?
Well, the first step is to pass the SAVE Act, but I believe we need to take it even further.
I believe we also need to implement single-day voting, and that needs to be done with paper ballots. I also believe that we need to eliminate mail-in voting.
Now you might be thinking, “But Cliff, you leverage mail-in voting with Citizens Alliance—what about that?”
Yes, we absolutely do. And that’s because it’s currently legal and the Democrats are heavily leveraging it to win elections all across the country, so it would be foolish not to do the same. I want it eliminated for everyone, but while it exists, I will continue using it to win elections for Republicans.
Some will ask, “But what about the senior citizens who can’t get out to vote? What about our active duty service members who may be deployed or don’t live where they’re registered to vote?”
Look, I’m not saying there can’t be some exceptions.
Of course the men and women who are overseas defending our freedoms or are stationed somewhere they aren’t registered to vote should still get to vote, and mail-in ballots are likely the only way to achieve that. And of course senior citizens who are disabled and unable to physically visit a polling location should still get to vote. But there needs to be some sort of qualification. Addressing this with service members is as simple as providing a copy of their orders showing their current duty station. And for senior citizens, the process is relatively simple as well — they can provide documentation of their disability and evidence that it legitimately prevents them from going to their polling location in person. They already provided this information to receive their disability benefits, so there is no real burden in providing it again to vote by mail.
And single-day voting on paper ballots is a no-brainer. Every other country is able to do this without a problem, so I think it’s reasonable to say that America should be able to do the same.
This will dramatically reduce the risk of voter fraud, both by tightening the voting window and by creating a paper trail that can’t be compromised.
If it’s good enough for Mamdani’s grocery stores, don’t you think it’s good enough for America’s elections?
I think so, and I’m fighting to make sure our elections are as secure as possible. So my question is this: “Will you join me in this fight?”
Cliff Maloney is the CEO of Citizens Alliance and the author of Run Right: A Complete Election Playbook to Win. You can follow him @maloney on X.