Republicans' sweeping election overhaul fails in the Senate

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday about the SAVE America Act and other topics. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption

The SAVE America Act, a far-reaching Republican election overhaul that President Trump said should be his congressional allies' top priority, has officially failed in the Senate.

The measure was voted on Thursday as an amendment as part of lengthy debate over an immigration funding package . The election bill has languished in the Senate for months, after the House passed a version in February on a near party-line vote.

The election proposal would have taken effect immediately, even as voting is underway in congressional primaries .

Notably, the legislation would have required voters to show a document proving their U.S. citizenship, like a passport or a birth certificate, when they registered to vote.

Research has shown millions of Americans don't have easy access to those documents. And experts say such a provision is unnecessary, as noncitizens have never been shown to vote at anything but microscopic numbers in American elections.

"The alleged sin that it is trying to correct happens so infrequently that it really does seem like the solution would be much, much worse than the disease," said Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck, in an interview with NPR this spring.

Still, as Trump has continued his years-long campaign to sow doubt in American elections, he pitched the SAVE America Act as a panacea to the fraud he falsely claims is rampant.