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That's according to Fabien Sanglard, who's written a blog post on the curious case of the Quake shareware CD release. The game itself took up a mere 22 MB of a CD-ROM's 640 MB capacity, leading John Carmack to joke that if there was ever a CD version of Doom, it would come with a "Making of Doom" feature film to use up the entire capacity.

However, it was decided that all that extra space could be put to better use instead—by including locked versions of id Software's entire back catalogue of games. The idea being, you could gain access to the games by calling a hotline, paying for them over the phone, and then putting in an unlock code. Just like you could when unlocking the shareware version of Quake into the full release.

In the days before proper digital game distribution (and for many, decent internet connections), this was likely seen as a stroke of genius. However, there was one fatal flaw. Yes, you guessed it. Those dastardly pirates have struck again.

Just 39 days after the CD-ROM's release, Quakecrk.zip emerged on the interwebs. Contained inside was Qcrack.exe, a tool which allowed users to merrily generate codes that would decrypt every single game.

The technical details go a little bit above my head, but I'll try to explain it the best I can. When attempting to unlock a game, the CD-ROM's GUI provided a code number, which was then supposed to be relayed to a phone agent. The agent would then provide a serial number, which the user would enter, granting access to a game.

However, the serial number obtained over the phone was merely a way to inform the unlock program that payment had been made. Said unlock program was capable of generating valid serial numbers all on its own, and merely checked to see if the locally-generated serial and the serial entered by the user matched.

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Which meant a cracked program could create a valid serial using a generated code number in the same way, and voila, access to id Software's entire back catalogue (in 1996, anyway) was yours.

Sanglard has also found a quote from David Kushner's Masters of Doom regarding the whole fiasco:

"Gamers wasted no time hacking the shareware to unlock the full version of the game for free. Worse, all the mundane aspects of distribution and order fulfilment were spinning out of control. In a desperate measure, id tried to put the brakes on the retail shareware, but it was too late. They were stuck with almost 150,000 CDs sitting in a warehouse."

So, the whole thing was pretty much a disaster. While gamers could pick up the shareware release of Quake for around $10 from retail stores, those in the know could use it to gain access to not just the full version of Quake, but a whole heap of other games for no extra cost.

Worse still, the pirated experience was technically better than the legitimate one. Sanglard has dug around inside the Quake shareware CD file structure and found several glaring errors, including the fact that Final Doom could not be accessed by calling the unlock center because of a small typo in the filename:

"There is a typo in SKU.17 which makes GAME-ID 12 correspond to codename 'Final' (with a capital F). This makes the serial generation retrieve the wrong doc. The correct value was 'final'. This created an only-too-familiar situation where illegitimate users enjoyed a better experience than paying customers."

A scenario that may ring true for some today. Anyway, lessons were learned, and I'd imagine that many curse words were used in the id Software offices when all this was discovered. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I might go and have a blast through Quake myself. It's been a while since I've played the original, so I think I'm ready to make up for some lost time.

Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't. 26 years later (yes he's getting old), he now spends his days writing about and reviewing graphics cards, CPUs, keyboards, mice, gaming headsets and much, much more. You name it, if it's PC gaming hardware he'll write words about it, with opinions and everything. %!s()

I think of Julian whistling betwixt his meteors as I peer from my lookout tower in Trainwatch, a game about a heartbroken alcoholic seeking purpose in a remote and humiliating, dead-end job. I think of James and his funky ramen express as I cradle a microwaved lasange in the canteen, trying to muster the self-esteem necessary to push the button upstairs that will stop any rogue pedestrians getting demolished by the 11.11pm from Richmond.

The trains are not for me. My lot is merely to close the crossing when ordered by the big red phone, and watch the joyous metal brutes thunder past to happier places, while trying not to collapse from exhaustion or delirium born of repeatedly failing to wash my hands. If I have time between button presses, I'll phone home and try to shore up my marriage. Perhaps I'll water my pot plant, which is secretly also my marriage. Perhaps I'll play that Labyrinth game on the office computer, once it's done downloading. Or maybe I'll go visit that weird guy who lurks behind the tower - that chortling beardo in blue robes, who urges me to listen for secrets whispered through the roaring of the trains.

Trainwatch is the work of Harvester Games, founded by Remigiusz Michalski - creator of Adam Smith and Sin Vega favourite The Cat Lady, among other creepy point-and-clickers. I haven't played any of those, so instead, my initial, vaguer clump of references was "what if Wes Anderson made a Silent Hill game. With trains."

The game centres on a landscape view of your lookout tower, jutting from foggy wasteland alongside the crossing gate: it looks so narrow from the front as to be uninhabitable. The handful of rooms inside are similarly viewed side-on or in elevated cutaway, creating a sense of dollhouse symmetry. But then some interaction or event flicks a switch in Troy's burdened brain, and the camera crooks over alarmingly, much as it did in that first alleyway from the very first Silent Hill. Egad, now we're cooking with charcoal!

I confess, I wasn't much drawn by Trainwatch's Sad Husband premise, but I was sold on the presentation immediately, and I'm steadily warming to the game's blend of mystery and mundanity. The landscape is a lot roomier than might be apparent if you fixate on the railway running through it – indeed, the developer calls it a "semi-open world". There are trees and buildings and all manner of peculiar spaces, buried in the mists. The challenge is to investigate them without missing the ringing of the big red phone.

In broad strokes, Trainwatch is a mix of life sim, adventure and time management game. Each shift, you have to ensure you close and open the gates according to the timetable. The game scores you on your alacrity - a condescending slap in the face, given that it also characterises you as a glorified monkey, soon to be replaced by computers (a weary authorial nod to present-day generative AI angst, I guess).

You also need to manage Troy's stamina, replenished by eating or drinking coffee, and keep tabs on his sanity, bolstered by doing hopeful things such as phoning his estranged wife at the agreed time. If you get too low on either stamina or sanity, the view will bleach to a bloodshot haze, and you won't be able to complete tasks such as using the computer, opening the fridge - which, unconstructively, is full of beer - or even pressing the button that closes the crossing. Failure to close the crossing won't necessarily get anybody killed, because this is a backwater, but fatalities seem inevitable if you keep pushing your luck beyond the opening hour.

Having given you the simplest of schedules, Trainwatch then tries to make following it impossible. The immediate obstacle is Troy himself, who begins the game as a wreck, scarcely able to unclog a sink, and is promptly required to work a double shift, after his deceptively jovial colleague Bob has an accident on the stairs. Some tutorial!

The longer term strain is, of course, all the other things you might want or need to do that take you further and further away from the tower. There's a boarded-up well that's crying out for a crowbar. There's a rusty fishing pool in one direction, and an ominous gated-off siding in the other. There are puzzles involving key codes and objects you'll want to incinerate, for some reason. There's also the weirdo in blue, who presses you to unlock the "Control Room" and become a "Better Man".

How much is supernatural, and how much is Troy having a rough one remains to be seen, but I imagine much of the eerieness will tie back to his drinking problems and his failing marriage. You'll meet a bunch of eccentric locals, including the perhaps inevitable passenger in a deserted station, waiting for a last service that will never arrive. Helping them may also help Troy find his way towards the happiest of the game's multiple endings.

It's too early to really comment on the writing, but I'm not finding this as mawkish and heavy-handed as it could easily have been, given the plot setup. Mostly that's because it's skewing functional – the script consists of stark little instructions and observations with highlighted words, reminiscent of older videogames in the sense of having less screen estate for text. Troy's chats with his wife Agatha are longer-winded, but we aren't talking paragraphs of self-reflection.

All told, I liked the opening 40 minutes of Trainwatch a lot more than I thought I might, after Julian lobbed a preview code out of his stardusted engine car and rumbled behind a comet to cackle about my dismay. It's true, I have been selected to write about by far the most depressing train game of the year to date - but let's be honest, if you've been following my news output, you already know that this is my cup of 3am coffee. James can keep his silly cartwheeling noodlewagons. Read more about Trainwatch on Steam. %!s()

With stress levels rising and people looking for ways to boost their immunity levels and get proper nutrition, wellness experts say this could be an ideal time for you to start a supplement routine. Adding a couple of easy-to-take supplements to your daily food intake and exercise regimen could go a long way towards keeping you healthy — and sane.

The Best Supplements to Try Right Now

“Ideally, you’d get all of your nutrients from a healthy diet, but the reality is that many people struggle to eat well and that certain nutrients are difficult to get, even with a well-planned diet,” says Samantha Cassetty, a registered dietitian and nutrition and wellness expert. “Beyond just meeting your basic needs, certain supplements can optimize your well-being. Though full-fledged deficiencies are rare,” she continues, “I often see insufficiencies—people taking in inadequate amounts of certain nutrients. In these cases, supplements can be helpful and are easy to take regularly.”

These supplements may not curb all your wintertime sickness blues, but experts say they all play an important function into your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Whether you’re looking to boost your immune system, heal your gut, or just need to calm some anxious thoughts, here are the best supplements to take right now.

1. Multivitamins

“While there isn’t one specific supplement that is the magic pill for immunity, you can consider a daily multivitamin if you feel your diet isn’t filled with a colorful array of fruits and vegetables,” Patel says. “The micronutrients essential for adults can often be found in most multivitamins.”

Ritual Multivitamins

Ritual’s bestselling multivitamins deliver a delayed-release capsule, rigorous third-party testing, and tailored options for different genders and ages.

2. Vitamin C

Everyone knows that the best way to get vitamin C is through fresh fruits and vegetables, but as grocery stores continue to face the squeeze of inflation, that’s easier said than done. And while a number of meal delivery services and grocery delivery companies have stepped up to deliver fresh produce to your door, you can’t beat the convenience of a vitamin supplement.

“This vitamin is very important for your health,” Patel stresses. “It acts as a powerful antioxidant, which helps to fight free radical damage caused by the environment, processed foods, and stress, which eventually causes cellular damage. Vitamin C acts to neutralize these free radicals, preventing this inflammation,” she explains.

Need more proof of its benefits: As a result of vitamin C’s anti-inflammatory activity, Wuhan University in China started clinical trials to assess high-dose vitamin C infusion as treatment against severe acute respiratory illnesses associated with the coronavirus.

NOW Foods C-500 Calcium Ascorbate-C Capsules

This top-rated vitamin C supplement delivers a hefty, clean dose that’s gentle and easy to absorb.

3. Pre-Workout

Effective workouts mean a healthier body overall, which is why pre-workout is another one of the best dietary supplements you can take. The key, however, is to find a pre-workout that relies primarily on amino acids rather than just caffeine. Amino acids, such as beta-alanine, are naturally produced by the liver and found in meat and poultry, and they help the body work harder for longer.

BODi Energize Pre-Workout

A great example of an amino acid pre-workout is this Energize from BODi. It combines beta-alanine, quercetin, and a low dose of caffeine for a powerful but level energy boost.

4. Vitamin D

“Vitamin D is hard to come by in food, and while you can get it from sunshine — which activates your body to make it — most of us don’t get sufficient, unexposed sun time,” Cassetty says. Those popular light therapy lamps can mimic the appearance of sunshine, but they won’t have the additional health benefits of vitamin D.

“Vitamin D supports a healthy immune system, and supplementation has been shown to protect against respiratory infections,” Cassetty says, “so if you aren’t already taking it, you might want to consider it.”

Transparent Labs Vitamin D3 and K2

Known for being extremely upfront about their vitamins’ sources and third-party testing, Transparent Labs makes one of the best vitamin D supplements on the market. It also includes vitamin K2, which helps direct the calcium into your bones instead of your soft tissues.

5. Zinc

“A number of studies have found that when using zinc lozenges during a cold, the duration of the cold was reduced by one day,” Patel says. “While its specific mechanism is unknown, theories include that it prevents the [cold] virus from entering cells and/or that it decreases the inflammatory cytokines in the blood.”

In addition to boosting immunity, Zinc also has a number of additional benefits, including helping to speed up the healing of wounds, improving brain function, and helping the treatment of acne. These quick-dissolve tablets are easier to take than traditional pills or capsules, too.

Momentus Zinc

Momentus’ zinc supplement is NSF Certified for Sport and subjected to rigorous third-party testing.

6. Magnesium

If you just need to calm down a little bit, you’ll want to keep some magnesium in your medicine cabinet. “Magnesium is a relaxation mineral,” Cassetty explains. “It helps counter the effects of stress in your body and supports a healthy sleep cycle, so it’s especially relevant right now. It’s also involved in your immune response.”

Though magnesium is found in common pantry items, like whole grains, beans, and nuts, studies have shown that up to 80% of Americans have a magnesium deficiency.

Cassetty recommends taking magnesium in powder form (mixed with water). “Magnesium is a larger mineral so pills are hard to swallow,” she says. “The most common form of magnesium pills — magnesium citrate — can cause stomach discomfort and a laxative effect,” Cassetty says.

Magnesium Glycinate Plus

A great magnesium powder is this one from Quince, which delivers high-quality magnesium glycinate (often considered the best variety of the supplement) in a package that’s more affordable than most.

7. Probiotics

“Your gut hosts the majority of your immune functioning, so it’s important to maintain the integrity of your GI tract,” shares Cassetty. “That takes a multi-pronged approach that involves eating a diverse, high-fiber diet, including colorful foods that are rich in polyphenols, and enjoying fermented foods, like yogurt, regularly. This strategy makes sure that you’re feeding the beneficial bacteria as well as consuming foods that supply them.”

Still, probiotic supplements can come in handy, both if you don’t have access to fermented foods easily, or if you want to add an extra boost to your gut health and digestive health.

“If you’re shopping for a probiotic, look for one that has strains that have been clinically shown to produce the response you’re looking for,” Cassetty says. Nella Probiotics, for example, has been clinically validated to show improved sleep quality, increased energy, and better digestion. In a departure from typical probiotics, Nella uses strains that come from the stool of athletes for increased performance (no, seriously). Five-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Nathan Adrian, six-time world champion wrestler Adeline Gray, and ultramarathon runner Kyle Pietari are among the athletes sharing their fecal matter for the benefit of humanity.

Nella Gut Health Supplements

These capsules are vegan, gluten-free, and contain no dairy or soy, making them easy on even the most sensitive stomachs. Additional benefits of taking a probiotic: these pills can help relieve diarrhea, gas, and bloating. %!s()

He recalls seeing her swinging her bass with her band L7 years later and reflecting on how she had risen above a scene riddled with drugs. “It was a feat to be a survivor, to thrive, to be making art with all that pain and all those survival mechanisms [we shared],” he says. “It was a feat to turn it into something beautiful that made people happy.”

Courtney Love befriended Finch shortly after hitchhiking from San Francisco to L.A. in the summer of 1983. “[Her dad’s] house is the closest thing to a home I’ll ever have,” Love tells Rolling Stone in a tribute that will be published separately in full soon. They bonded over their favorite records from Love’s U2 and Echo and the Bunnymen to Finch’s SST hardcore and the Chili Peppers. “She dragged me to shows,” Love says. “There wasn’t a day she didn’t stand by the strange girl from up north. We had guitars and taught each other to play. The Runaways were our Sex Pistols.”

Since Finch’s death from brain cancer at age 59 last month, her bandmates, friends, and peers have been remembering how music and friendship formed the double helix of her soul. That’s also apparent from Finch’s upcoming memoir, completed shortly before her death, which gives her account of how she maintained her punk roots and cultivated friendships with the era’s who’s who. The book, Shooting Up and Making Out: A Memoir of My Life in LA and L7, cowritten with Jeff Alulis, will come out via Da Capo on Jan. 19.

In the book, Finch recounts how a tumultuous childhood at the hands of an abusive adoptive mom led her to want to escape her homelife. Out of her mother’s clutches, she made lasting friendships with Love, Flea, and others, and fell in love with punk rock, photography, and heroin while still a teen. After playing in a short-lived band with Love and future Babes in Toyland singer-guitarist Kat Bjelland, she joined L7.

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“She was hounding us to join before our other bass player even left,” L7 singer-guitarist Donita Sparks says. “She had a lot of chutzpah.” Before long, she was playing buzz saw punk alongside Sparks and singer-guitarist Suzi Gardner on the L.A. club circuit.

When Tom Morello was still a Midwestern transplant finding his way in Los Angeles, years before Rage Against the Machine, Finch welcomed him into town and helped him find his footing as an artist. Years later, when L7 were touring through San Francisco where Morello’s band Lock Up were recording an album, L7 hung out between gigs. “I was always surprised that someone that cool was that nice to me,” he says. “I’m clearly bringing a lot of insecurity to that statement. But she just was in one of the coolest bands of all time in the L.A. underground scene.”

Finch was the type of person who would meet friends of friends, and she made time to meet Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, at Love’s suggestion. The pair quickly discovered they were kindred spirits. “Jennifer told me on many occasions that she felt music had saved her, and she wanted that sort of salvation for everyone whom she connected with; especially young women who wanted their own future in music,” Corgan says. “She did not see herself as above anyone or anything and was personally repulsed by the aura of instant celebrity that came with grunge‘s first wave.”

A PERFECT FIT FOR Finch’s daring spirit, L7 played fast and frightening metal-tinged punk with hummable guitar riffs and catchy vocal hooks, which they perfected on their indie-label breakthrough EP, Smell the Magic, and major label albums, Bricks Are Heavy and Hungry for Stink, all of which played well on both MTV’s 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball. Finch’s songwriting contributions to the band shine on “Everglade,” a swamp-grunge rocker about a Floridian female mosh pitter beating up dumb redneck dudes, the sick-of-it-all cool of “One More Thing,” and “Shirley,” a raging rock ode to drag racer Shirley Muldowney. “What’s a beautiful girl like you doing racing in a place like this?” a man asks in a sample on the last song. The answer sums up Finch’s outlook: “Winning.”

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“[Jennifer] had a lot of energy,” Sparks says. “She had great style. She was great onstage, great moves. She was brave.”

In chapter after chapter, she charts that band’s rise from van tours to the indie-rock success of Smell the Magic’s “Shove” to the MTV fame of Bricks Are Heavy’s “Pretend We’re Dead” and gigs with Nirvana. “Kurt adored Jennifer, and she was one of the few people he spoke to a few times a week,” Love says. (The book also addresses the effect Kurt Cobain’s death had on her friends and her. “She got me through that horrible month and didn’t leave my side,” Love says.)

As L7 took off in the early Nineties, she fought to become sober, a difficult prospect for a touring artist but one she clung to for the rest of her life alongside offering to help others. “She got very involved in the sober community, and I think she helped other artists using her knowledge and experience,” Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman tells Rolling Stone.

She also wrote a full account of her own exit from L7 as pressures mounted behind the scenes in her personal life, as well as rumination on her values. She gives no quarter to people who wronged her, discussing sexual assaults and how she held the men accountable. She also advocates for women’s rights throughout. “A very early Rage Against the Machine show was playing a reproductive rights benefit that L7 spearheaded, Rock for Choice,” Morello says. “It really helped to rally our community, which had disparate levels of political awareness and interest around that very important issue.”

In the book, Finch, who also played in the groups Other Star People and the Shocker, addresses other illnesses she faced including adenomyosis and thyroid cancer, though it concludes with a happy ending in which she talks about how she’s at peace with her life and accomplishments.

“Jennifer sounded like herself, and that’s the greatest compliment I can give to anyone.”

Flea

“I fucking really admire people who can live between being a very humble, graceful, caring human and a warrior,” says Melissa Auf der Maur, erstwhile bassist for Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins. “I cannot wait for Jennifer’s book to come out. For her to die prior to her story being told in her own words is so tragic.”

What’s most evident from reading Shooting Up and Making Out, though, is how her we’re-all-in-this-together punk spirit guided her through tough times. Although she filled the book with famous names and a chapter about dating Dave Grohl, it never feels name-droppy. Her friends say that’s because she was integral to her scene and she always managed to maintain a strong, positive energy.

“In my 62 years, I can think of nobody more loyal or honorable,” Love says. “[She was] a true friend, who also gave me the security of having one house where I was safe.”

“Jennifer was excellent in a crisis,” Sparks says. “Whether we had a flat tire in the van or the promoter didn’t want to pay us, or somebody had to go to the hospital, she would spring into action. I get kind of paralyzed at that shit like, ‘Fuck, what do we do?’ And Jennifer’s already out the door dealing with it.” (Adds Flea: “She was sharp as a fucking tack. She was sweet. She felt good to be around.”)

Although she could maintain positivity, it wasn’t until later in her life that she became aware of the impact she had on others. In a chapter titled “Fourteen and Shooting,” about a gallery showing of photos she took as a teen of the L.A. punk scene, she reflected on how the media perceived L7 as she watched attendees, some younger than she was when she took the photos, peruse her view of punk history.

“They were trying to make sense of moments they hadn’t lived, and I was curating a past that I hadn’t fully processed myself,” Finch writes. “I connected it back to my decade in L7. How we fought so hard for a place in the narrative, only to realize that the mainstream didn’t want us in the story. They needed us to exist as outsiders, to contextualize their more commercially successful bands as more authentic. We were a reference, not a revolution.”

Finch’s friends say that’s not true and that L7 nevertheless sparked change — even if Finch and her bandmates weren’t aware. Auf der Maur first saw the band in Montreal in 1991, before she’d even picked up a bass. “Something about seeing all women in that level of grit and power made such an impression on me,” she says. “I obviously was a rock fan, but I hadn’t yet chosen my instrument or chosen to make music my life.” She credits seeing Finch — as well as bassists like Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Hole’s Jill Emery — with the revelation that “the bass just called to me.”

“L7 broke the mold and recast this idea that heavy music was essentially the providence of one gender,” Corgan says, “and they did so in a way that made their message a message of unity for all.”

Those who spoke with Finch in her final months, as she came to terms with her brain cancer diagnosis — announced publicly only five days before her death — say she knew she was loved. “I talked to Jennifer about three months ago: ‘How you doing?’” NOFX vocalist-bassist Fat Mike Burkett says. “She goes, ‘Mike, I’m doing OK. I got the best partner, and people were treating me really well, and I’m at peace.’ She wasn’t happy about it, but she realized what an impact she made on this world, how important she was, how many people’s lives she made better.”

When Love learned how sick Finch was in June, she traveled to be by her friend’s side and spent the final five weeks of Finch’s life with her. “She could not have written her chaotic ending better herself,” Love says. “More than 100 people were fighting to get in, arguing that they were on the list as if it were a club, because she had more than 100 passionate friends who would hock their houses for her. There were bouncers rotating at the door … the tired, the sick, the hungry, the famous and tons of ex-boyfriends [showed up], all regretting their wrongs. She loved it. Everyone remembering her with love and sobbing.

“I was always surprised that someone that cool was that nice to me.”

Tom Morello

“At four in the morning, when her body shut down and the medical staff said it was time, I heard someone say, “But we ordered breakfast for eight, and Flea’s coming at nine,'” Love continues, adding that the irony of the scene made her laugh.

L7 fans will get a chance to say goodbye to the group this fall when they embark on a “Last Hurrah” farewell tour. The band already played a handful of dates this summer with Tsuzumi Okai filling in for Finch after she announced she was sitting the tour out due to illness. Sparks says Finch’s doctors had given her hope she’d be able to make it to the fall dates, but now she describes the aftermath of losing Finch as something like a fog, especially as L7 prepare for fall tour dates.

“It’s a really weird feeling of grieving but also having to keep the ball moving forward,” she says. “I wrote this down: ‘I just have to do a little bit each day, and if I can do a little bit each day, I can get through this and all of us can get through this.’ It’s just really a little bit at a time.

“The tour is supposed to be joyous saying goodbye,” she continues. “We can celebrate Jennifer. Now there’s going to be a lot more emotion with it for sure. We’re tying up our career with a ribbon. That’s what Jennifer wanted us to do, so we’re doing it.”

Finch’s own personal legacy has been slowly coming into focus. “The outpouring of love that has come to Jennifer and L7 since her passing has been remarkable and touching and kind of overwhelming,” Sparks says. “I turned off my phone for a couple days because I was just like, ‘I can’t take this.’ It’s a heavy thing. It’s a really heavy thing.”

“Jennifer sounded like herself, and that’s the greatest compliment I can give to anyone,” Flea says. “She knew what she loved and she went for it. She put her whole body into every note. She vibrated with the instrument. She was a true rocker.”

Preorder Shooting Up and Making Out: A Memoir of My Life in LA and L7, out Jan. 19.

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In a Truth Social post on Monday, the US president said India’s Chief Election Commissioner had asked his administration how the US could hold elections without a valid photo ID.

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“India’s last election had 646,000,000 voters! Less than 1 percent voted by mail, and every single voter had to have a valid photo identity document,” he said.

The US president used the comparison to renew his push for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship and impose stricter voter-ID requirements.

While India’s elections are the world’s largest and are widely admired for their scale, complexity and efficiency, its election process has also faced scrutiny over electoral rolls, campaign malpractices, and increasingly, concerns over the independence of institutions under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

So, how clean are India’s elections, what does the country’s experience really tell us, and do voter IDs end electoral malpractices?

What is the Save America Act, and why is it controversial?

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, is a voting bill backed by Trump.

The version passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in February would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport.

It would also impose stricter identification requirements for people casting ballots, whether in person or by mail. Supporters argue that strong documentation requirements would help safeguard the election.

However, non-citizens voting in US federal and state elections is already illegal, while Trump’s claims that widespread voter fraud exists have not been supported by any meaningful evidence.

Research conducted by New York-based Brennan Center for Justice found that most reported incidents of voter fraud were largely a result of clerical errors or bad data-matching practices.

The report reviewed elections that had been “meticulously” studied for voter fraud and found incident rates between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent.

Critics have said the bill would be tantamount to widespread voter disenfranchisement and would negatively affect voter turnout.

Meanwhile, Democratic politicians say the Trump administration is using the bill to influence the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections, where Republicans are expected to defend their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

How do India’s elections and voter IDs work?

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is the constitutional authority that oversees elections across the country. During the 2024 general election, nearly 970 million people were registered to vote. More than 640 million of them actually voted in what was the largest election in history.

Being the most populated country in the world, India holds elections over several weeks. The last general election was conducted in seven phases, with voters electing members of the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament.

Voter photo identification was introduced by the ECI in 1993 to “prevent impersonation” and as part of its effort to strengthen election administration.

India also maintains detailed electoral rolls, which determine who is eligible to vote in a particular constituency.

Prior to voting day, the ECI asks voters to check that their names appear on the electoral roll.

Does India have any mail-in voting?

Yes, India does have postal ballots, but only certain voters can access them.

According to the election commission website, voters can submit their vote on an “electronically received postal ballot from their preferred location” outside of their assigned voting constituency, and “send back the marked postal ballot through the post”.

Those eligible to vote include service sector workers such as members of the police and armed forces, individuals on election duty, as well as those under trial but yet to be convicted – all individuals who cannot be in their constituency to vote on election day because of circumstances beyond their control.

Have voter IDs eliminated fraud in Indian elections?

India’s opposition has consistently raised concerns over alleged election malpractices in both general and regional elections.

In August 2025, Congress Party’s Rahul Gandhi alleged fraud in the 2024 general election, accusing the ECI of adding fraudulent voters to electoral rolls in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency.

In news conferences held in large halls, Gandhi showed multiple instances where the same voter appeared to have several voter IDs – in theory potentially allowing one person to cast more than one vote.

Gandhi said the claims were based on six months of research and challenged the commission to release electronic voter rolls and CCTV footage to disprove them.

The government rejected the allegations, but did not accept Gandhi’s challenge to release details that would prove or disprove his accusations.

Later that year in November, the Congress Party alleged that more than 2.5 million votes had been “stolen” during the 2024 Haryana state election. According to India’s biggest opposition party, irregularities were found in voter records, including identical photographs appearing on multiple voter IDs.

Have Modi’s policies cleaned up elections – or cleaned out opposition voters?

While evidence of widespread voter fraud remains scant, analysts and rights groups argue the focus on voter ID in India misses a more fundamental problem: who gets to vote and who doesn’t.

In October, the ECI launched the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR), backed by the Modi government but opposed by nearly all opposition parties. The nationwide exercise aims to identify deceased, duplicate and otherwise ineligible voters on the electoral rolls.

In Bihar last year, nearly 80 million registered voters were given only weeks to verify their eligibility, with many asked to provide documents such as birth certificates, passports or school records.

In September, the ECI released a list of 74.2 million voters after removing the names of 4.7 million people.

“The present government and the ECI are choosing who among the population should remain as voters,” political economist and author Parakala Prabhakar told Al Jazeera. “This amounts to government choosing the voters rather than the voters choosing the government.”

In April 2026, about nine million people in West Bengal – nearly 12 percent of the state’s 76 million registered voters – lost their voting rights following the completion of the SIR process in the state.

Of those, nearly six million were classified as absent or deceased. Another three million were unable to vote because there was insufficient time for special tribunals to hear their cases before the election.

Rights activists and election observers claim the exercise disproportionately disenfranchises marginalised groups.

Of the deleted names, 34 percent of the voters were Muslim, despite being only 27 percent of the state’s total population, according to media outlet The Hindu. While 63 percent of deletions comprised Hindu voters, many of them included members of the Matua community, a sect of the marginalised Dalit group, who live largely in areas bordering Bangladesh.

“In India, the ongoing effort through SIR is to exclude sections that are inimical to the Hindu Majoritarian agenda,” economist Prabhakar said.

“At the end of this exercise, India will have two classes of Indians: one with franchise, the other without franchise,” he added.

“While some other polities chose to physically cleanse their political systems by shedding blood, India under Modi is experimenting with a bloodless way, by depriving the ‘other’ of their franchise.” %!s()