US President Donald Trump has been touting India’s election system as a model for tougher voter-identification rules in the United States that he is trying to force through in the face of political opposition. In a Truth Social post on Monday, the US president said India’s Chief Election Commissioner had asked his administration how the US could hold elections without a valid photo ID. Less than 1 percent voted by mail, and every single voter had to have a valid photo identity document,” he said.
The US president used the comparison to renew his push for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship and impose stricter voter-ID requirements. While India’s elections are the world’s largest and are widely admired for their scale, complexity and efficiency, its election process has also faced scrutiny over electoral rolls, campaign malpractices, and increasingly, concerns over the independence of institutions under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So, how clean are India’s elections, what does the country’s experience really tell us, and do voter IDs end electoral malpractices?
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, is a voting bill backed by Trump. The version passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in February would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport. It would also impose stricter identification requirements for people casting ballots, whether in person or by mail.
Supporters argue that strong documentation requirements would help safeguard the election. However, non-citizens voting in US federal and state elections is already illegal, while Trump’s claims that widespread voter fraud exists have not been supported by any meaningful evidence. Research conducted by New York-based Brennan Center for Justice found that most reported incidents of voter fraud were largely a result of clerical errors or bad data-matching practices.
The report reviewed elections that had been “meticulously” studied for voter fraud and found incident rates between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent. Critics have said the bill would be tantamount to widespread voter disenfranchisement and would negatively affect voter turnout. Meanwhile, Democratic politicians say the Trump administration is using the bill to influence the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections, where Republicans are expected to defend their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is the constitutional authority that oversees elections across the country. During the 2024 general election, nearly 970 million people were registered to vote. More than 640 million of them actually voted in what was the largest election in history.
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