# Trump questions India’s voting system, praises US ID rules 2026-08-23T01:21:28+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had asked his administration how elections are held in the U.S. without a valid photo ID. Trump pointed out that only 1% of India's 64.64 crore voters cast ballots by mail in the last general elections, contrasting it with the U.S. where mail voting is widespread. He reiterated his call for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote. The U.S. has no national election authority like India's Election Commission. Voter registration and balloting are handled by county and municipal jurisdictions. Unlike India's house-to-house enumeration by the ECI, U.S. registration is elector-initiated. While 36 states ask for some ID at polling places, 23 require a photo ID. Independent studies have found non-citizen voting is rare and mostly accidental. The SAVE America Act, passed by the U.S. House in February along party lines, would require new registrants to produce a passport, birth certificate, or naturalisation papers plus a government photo ID. The Bipartisan Policy Centre estimates over 20 million eligible American citizens lack ready access to such documents. The Act has stalled in the Senate. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Trump's focus on India's voting system is a political tool to push his SAVE America Act, which has little chance in the Senate. India's election process, overseen by a central commission, is fundamentally different from the decentralised U.S. system. The core issue is not about which system is better but about voter access: India's universal EPIC card and Aadhaar linkage versus U.S. reliance on individual documentation. Over 20 million Americans may lack the documents the SAVE Act would require, a number larger than many state populations. Watch for Senate action, likely blocked by Democrats. ## Coverage - thehindu.com Explains U.S. and Indian election systems factually, includes Trump's claims but also independent studies rebutting them. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Donald Trump, Election Commission of India, Gyanesh Kumar, SAVE America Act, U.S. Congress Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/trump-questions-indias-voting-system-praises-us-id-rules/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/trump-questions-indias-voting-system-praises-us-id-rules/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/