(By George Caldwell/Daily Signal) – Angered by Los Angeles’ late-arriving mayoral election results that locked Spencer Pratt out of the city’s runoff election, Republican Sen. Rick Scott is arguing the SAVE America Act would strengthen Americans’ faith in their elections.

The bill would require photo identification and proof of citizenship in federal elections and require local governments to regularly purge their voter rolls.

“Whether it’s accurate or not, it sure doesn’t look like it,” Scott, R-Fla., told the Daily Signal of the result of the Los Angeles mayor’s race, in which registered Republican candidate Pratt lost to registered Democrat Nithya Raman in a battle for second place.

Pratt initially led Raman in the election night tally, but subsequent post-election mail-in ballot batches heavily favored Raman, even over incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, and Pratt’s lead evaporated. On Monday, the Associated Press declared that Raman will advance to the runoff election against Bass, who is also a registered Democrat.

Multiple other primaries remain unresolved.

California’s election laws require that any mail-in ballots postmarked before election day be counted for a week after election day. All voters receive a mail-in ballot, whether they request one or not. Photo identification is also not required in California elections.

To be sure, the tardiness of the results are not unprecedented in California.

For instance, in the 2022 midterms, the party in control of the U.S. House remained uncertain until mid-November, with the Associated Press calling California’s 27th Congressional District for Republican Mike Garcia on the 16th day of the month.

“Look at California. They do nothing to make anybody feel comfortable that it’s fair,” said Scott. “It’s all behind the scenes… You have to assume the worst.”

Alongside Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Scott has been one of the main Senate advocates of the SAVE America Act.

Last week, the bill got its first vote on the Senate floor, when Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced an amendment to a border funding legislation which would have waived rules governing the budgetary process and allowed the bill to be added.

Ultimately, four Republican senators joined all Democrats in voting against waiving those rules, and the amendment failed 48-50, short of the 60 votes it needed to pass.

Scott says the vote should not be the end of the story for the SAVE America Act.

“I’m not going to give up on it. I know Mike Lee won’t,” Scott told the Daily Signal. “Over 80% of Americans want voter ID.”