Schumer, Dems launch 'free and fair' elections task force as Trump's SAVE America Act stumbles
Senate Democrats are launching a "free and fair" elections task force as Republicans struggle to move forward on voter ID and citizenship verification legislation.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus are set to join forces with the likes of former Attorney General Eric Holder, Marc Elias and others for the unit. Its creation came the same day as the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling last week.
That decision will likely supercharge the redistricting arms race already underway in states across the country. The task force’s creation also comes as Republicans have failed to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.
"Donald Trump and the Republicans realize that if the election were held fairly, that the likelihood is that they would lose, and we would win, that we would take back the House, take back the Senate," Schumer said.
"So they are doing all kinds of nefarious things, some of them legal, some of them not so legal, to try and overturn a fair result in an election," he continued.
Schumer described the task force’s mission as seeking out "election threats," including actions at the administrative level by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), attacks on the First Amendment, foreign threats and militarization of law enforcement at the polls.
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Its inception is in response to what Democrats say is a "comprehensive effort" by President Donald Trump and his administration to undermine the upcoming election.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital in a statement that Trump is "committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters."
"The Civil Rights Act, National Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act all give the Department of Justice full authority to ensure states comply with federal election laws, which mandate accurate state voter rolls," Jackson said. "This campaign pledge from the President is why millions of Americans sent him back to the White House."
"The President has also urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting. Noncitizens voting is a crime," she continued. "Anyone breaking the law will be held accountable."
Trump has strongly pushed Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, which would create federal voter ID laws, require proof of citizenship to register to vote and share information on voter rolls with DHS. Democrats say the legislation would disenfranchise millions of Americans.
"Not passing the SAVE AMERICA ACT will lead to the worst results for a political party in the HISTORY of the United States Senate," Trump said on Truth Social. "An Unrecoverable Death Wish!!! Likewise, the FILIBUSTER - TERMINATE IT NOW!!!"
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But Republicans aren’t unified behind the legislation. The SAVE America Act, or a version of it pushed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., failed last month when four Republicans joined Democrats to kill it.
He has also called on Republicans to nationalize elections, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn’t rule out sending federal immigration agents to polling places in the fall during his confirmation hearing earlier this year.
It’s part of what Democrats charge is a concerted effort to tip the scales in the upcoming elections.
"Donald Trump doesn't think he did too much in 2020 to steal the election," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said. "He thinks he did too little. And so that's why you are seeing, already, a comprehensive effort to try to rig and steal the fall election."