Through Sharelle B. McNair
February 9, 2026
The proposed bill, the Make Elections Great Again Act, claims to “increase voter confidence, strengthen election integrity, and make it easy to vote but difficult to cheat.”
Republican Congressman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin is drawing side action from voting rights advocates after pushing legislation that would give voters without IDs a free way to vote.
Steil was interviewed by Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” and compared requiring ID at voting booths to getting a card to buy alcohol. The legislator says: “It makes sense.” “When we ask people whether or not you need to have a photo ID to vote, it’s overwhelmingly popular because it makes sense. And it comes up regularly in their personal lives,” he said.
“I go home and buy a six-pack of beer, I’m asked for my ID. I want to board an airline, need ID. I want to open a bank account, need ID. I think it’s common sense for the American people to recognize that if you want to vote in an election in the United States of America, you have to have a photo ID.”
His bill, “Make Elections Great Again Act,” claims to “increase voter confidence, strengthen election integrity, and make it easy to vote but difficult to cheat.” According to the Wisconsin Examiner, the legislation requires voters in each state to show photo identification for federal elections and requires states to verify that registered voters are U.S. citizens. In addition, Steil wants paper ballots to be required in all federal elections.
The MEGA bill also severely limits someone’s ability to collect ballots on behalf of others, banning universal voting by mail and ranked-choice voting in federal elections. While Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming labeled the bill “a critical step toward restoring faith in our democratic process,” Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Executive Director Nick Ramos says otherwise.
“The MEGA Act is a deeply problematic piece of anti-voter legislation. It will disenfranchise millions of voters across the country,” he said. Samuel Liebert, Wisconsin state director of All Voting Is Local, seems to agree. “This is a major federal takeover of election administration,” Liebert said.
Wisconsin has already passed legislation at the state level similar to Steil’s proposal. In 2011, The hill reports that the Wisconsin state legislature has passed legislation requiring photo IDs to vote. As a provision of the bill outlined how state residents can obtain a free ID from the state’s Department of Transportation to vote.
The push comes just as House lawmakers are set to vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which proposes proof of citizenship to register to vote and valid identification to vote, and it appears voters agree.
A 2025 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that more than 80% of Americans, including 71% on the Democratic side, support legislation that would require individuals to show a government-issued photo ID to vote, adding to Steil’s narrative that “Our legislation is built on common-sense principles that the American people support.”
RELATED CONTENT: Voter ID advocates are ready for battle
#Republican #Rep #Bryan #Steil #Wisconsin #pushing #voter #bill #drawing #resistance #voting #rights #groups