Schumer Launches Democrats' Elections Task Force as GOP Stalls on Voter ID Bill

Senate Democrats have launched a task force on free and fair elections as Republicans struggle to advance voter ID and citizenship verification legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and his caucus plan to team up with former Attorney General Eric Holder, Marc Elias and others for the unit. The announcement came the same day as the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act ruling last week. That decision will likely intensify the redistricting battles already under way in states across the country.

The task force arrives as Republicans have failed to move forward on 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."

Schumer outlined the task force's mission as identifying election threats, including administrative actions by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, attacks on the First Amendment, foreign threats and militarization of law enforcement at polls.

Democrats say the task force responds to a comprehensive effort by President Donald Trump and his administration to undermine the upcoming election.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital that Trump is committed to ensuring Americans have full confidence in election administration, including 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," she said. "This campaign pledge from the President is why millions of Americans sent him back to the White House."

Jackson added that Trump has urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act and other proposals to establish uniform photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting and end ballot harvesting. She noted that noncitizens voting is a crime and anyone breaking the law will be held accountable.

The SAVE America Act would create federal voter ID laws, require proof of citizenship to register to vote and share voter roll information with the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats say it 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!!!"

Republicans lack unity on the bill. The SAVE America Act, or a version pushed by Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, failed last month when four Republicans joined Democrats to block it.

Trump has called on Republicans to nationalize elections. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not rule out sending federal immigration agents to polling places in the fall during his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

Democrats charge it is part of 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 of Connecticut 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."