February 9, 2026
Wisconsin GOP Rep. Bryan Steil Pushes Voter ID Bill, Drawing Pushback From Voting Rights Groups
The proposed bill, 'Make Elections Great Again Act' claims to 'improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.'
Wisconsin Republican Congressman Bryan Steil is drawing side-eye action from voting rights advocates after pushing legislation that would give voters without an ID one for free to vote.
Steil was interviewed by Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” and compared requiring ID at voting booths to being carded for buying alcohol. The lawmaker says, “it makes sense.” “If we go and ask folks whether or not you should have photo identification to vote, it’s overwhelmingly popular because it makes sense. And it’s regular in their actual personal life,” he said.
“I go home and buy a six-pack of beer, I get asked for my ID. I want to board an airline, need an ID. Wanna open a bank account, need an ID. I think it’s common sense for the American people to recognize that if you wanna go and vote in an election in the United States of America, you should have a photo ID.”
His proposed bill, “Make Elections Great Again Act,” claims to “improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.” According to the Wisconsin Examiner, the legislation would require voters in each state to show a photo ID for federal elections and require 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 places harsh restrictions on a person’s ability to collect ballots on behalf of others, banning universal voting by mail and ranked choice voting in federal elections. While Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming labeled the bill as “a crucial step toward restoring trust in our democratic process,” the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Nick Ramos, says otherwise.
“The MEGA Act is a seriously problematic piece of anti-voter legislation. It will disenfranchise millions of voters across the country,” he said. Samuel Liebert, the Wisconsin state director for All Voting Is Local, appears to agree. “This is a sweeping federal takeover of election administration,” Liebert said.
Wisconsin already passed legislation at the state level similar to Steil’s proposal. In 2011, The Hill reports that the Wisconsin state Legislature passed legislation requiring photo IDs to vote. As a stipulation, 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 scheduled to vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which proposes proof of citizenship to register to vote and valid identification to cast a ballot, and it seems voters agree.
A 2025 study conducted by the Pew Research Center found over 80% of Americans, including 71% on the Democratic side, support legislation that would require individuals to show government-issued photo ID to vote, adding to Steil’s narrative that “Our legislation is built on commonsense principles that the American people support.”
RELATED CONTENT: Voter ID Proponents are Ready to Battle
