An open letter to John Thune after Elon Musk calls him "spineless" and "corrupt" for not pushing harder on the SAVE act
Dear John Thune,
Interesting news today. According to today’s edition of the New York Times, last month Elon Musk donated $5 million to Senator John Thun’s allied super PAC. Now Musk is threatening you if you don’t pass the ill-conceived SAVE Act regardless of what it takes.
He called you “spineless” and “corrupt” and charged you with “high treason” He encouraged his 237 million X followers to call your national and local offices, which will interfere with every South Dakotan trying to access your offices. All this as you use critical Senate time to engage in political theater rather than address the real issues that are affecting real lives.
You pretend the SAVE Act is more critical than the War Powers Resolution, illegal tariffs, the killing of Iranian school children by an American missile, thousands being killed or displaced due to Trump’s war of choice, soaring prices, ongoing violations of the Constitution by ICE, the killing and detainment of American citizens in Minnesota and other states, and the apparent coverup of the Epstein files by the Department of Justice, to name a few. And you are about to confirm Markwayne Mullin as head of Homeland Security, a man so craven he refuses to answer the question about who won the 2020 election under oath.
So, the SAVE Act.
In an interview with Fox News anchor Brett Baier, you said that the legislation, which is opposed by most Democrats and a couple Republicans, “is an issue we will be able to use, I think, in the fall elections.”
When Baier asked you if these efforts were political posturing rather than genuine legislating, you said, “This is about making sure we have an election process that is actually [so] the right people—not just the illegals... have an opportunity to vote.”
The right people? Why didn’t you use the word citizens? And your implication that “the illegals vote” is essentially a lie. This language should be beneath you.
Majority Leader, read the analysis of the SAVE Act by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a nonpartisan think tank formed by former Senate majority leaders including Howard Baker (R), Tom Daschle (D), Bob Dole (R) and George Mitchell (D).
Among the BPC’s points is the fact that citizenship has long been a requirement to vote and noncitizen voting is extremely rare. One example it cites is Utah. They did a citizenship review of 2 million registered voters and they found one noncitizen. No noncitizens voted.
According to the Heritage Center’s election fraud map, South Dakota had six cases of voter fraud from 2005 to 2023, all committed by citizens. The Heritage Foundation expresses deep concern that many citizens don’t have the necessary documentation required by this act. More than half don’t have a valid passport. Only 35 percent of South Dakota residents have passports. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law says that 6% of Americans citizens don’t have access to an acceptable birth certificate. If that percentage hold in South Dakota, 54,000 of our state residents don’t have their birth records readily available.
Women who changed their name due to marriage, remarriage, or divorce require more documentation.
The BPC reports that in Kansas, before a documentary proof requirement was imposed, noncitizen registration was “exceedingly rare.” After it was put in place, around 31,000 eligible citizens were prevented from registering and were unable to vote.
Here’s where I’m confused. In general, citizens with easier access to documentation are those making more than $150,000 a year and/or having college and graduate degrees. Consider that nineteen of the 22 poorest states, including South Dakota, are red states. It seems that these are among the states most likely to be negatively affected by the requirements of the SAVE Act. Also, according to the BCP, Republicans are more likely to depend on birth certificates, which are less reliable proof than passports. The BPC cited the Pew Research Center finding that Republican women are only half as likely as Democratic women to keep their name after marriage. Therefore, “Republicans may ultimately be more disadvantaged by documentary proof requirements than Democrats.”
Republicans frequently portray Democrats as wanting noncitizens to vote. This is an abject lie akin to your characterization of people at the No Kings march in Sioux Falls as “communists and Marxists.”
I am an American first, a Democrat second. To deprive any citizen of the right to vote should be abhorrent to every American, and that is why I am opposed to the SAVE Act in its present form. Other approaches merit more study.
Your unseriousness on this issue was evident in remarks you made at the press briefing on March 17. You began talking about the SAVE Act. Then you mentioned “common sense” and segued into remarks about transgender athletes. The SAVE Act affects about 175 million American voters. NCAA president Charlie Baker testified in December 2024 that he knew of ten transgender college student-athletes among 510,00 athletes total.
You insult the intelligence of your constituents. Apparently you believe that by mentioning transgender athletes, voters will be distracted from the actual issues that directly affect their daily lives such as the price of gas, the lack of affordable health care, the cutting of SNAP benefits, and loved ones facing deployment to the Middle East by a president who promised no more wars. So, Majority Leader Thune, how will you respond to the threats from a draft-dodging South African who, according to the Washington Post, violated the terms of his student visa and yet was allowed to become a naturalized citizen? Will you return Musk’s $5 million? Or will you capitulate to the rich and powerful?
A genuine patriot would follow the recommendation of the nonpartisan BPC: “That policymakers avoid making major changes in an election year given the likelihood that they result in administrative errors and create confusion for voters.”
Dog whistles, lies and posturing or mature governance? Your choice.
Sincerely,
Misti Snow
cc: Sen. Mike Rounds, Rep. Dusty Johnson, Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Tim Kaine, et al
Misti Snow, a Pierre native and 1971 graduate of Riggs High School, is a retired author, editor, and teacher. She wrote for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 20 years and then taught writing to international students, refugees, and immigrants in Virginia, where she lives. Her newspaper work was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and she’s a former Bush Leadership Fellow. Her family's roots date back to 1868 in the Dakota Territory. The original homestead is still owned and farmed by her Snow cousins in Gayville.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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