Adam Schiff, Hakeem Jeffries rail against SAVE Act as 'voter suppression law'

U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California and U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York appeared on Sunday morning news shows to voice opposition to Republican-led efforts to require voter ID in federal elections.

The two top Democrats accused Republicans of attempting to pass a "voter suppression" law. Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Texas Congressman Chip Roy have for the last two years been trying to bring votes to Senate and House floors on their proposed SAVE Act, which would require Americans to prove their identity by showing identification at polls. Democrats have resisted calls for voter ID laws, despite the proposal enjoying broad support among both Republicans and Democrats, according to multiple polls.

On ABC's This Week, Schiff said, "Republicans have created distrust of elections by making non-existent fraud in the elections ... in order to enact a voter suppression law, which is the SAVE Act." 

This Week host Jonathan Karl confronted Schiff with recent Pew polling that shows 83% of Americans, including 71% of Democrats, support laws requiring photo ID to vote, and asked the senator whether Democrats in Congress could compromise on the issue. Schiff largely dodged the question, saying, "It's still going to be something that disenfranchises people that don't have Real ID, driver's license ID, necessary to vote."

CNN's Dana Bash cited the same polling data while interviewing Jeffries on CNN Sunday morning. Jeffries responded by saying states should be in charge of deciding voter ID policies and accusing Republicans of trying to "engage in clear and blatant voter suppression." 

Jeffries went on to accuse President Donald Trump of trying to "steal" future elections, and also falsely stated that New York, his home state, requires voter identification measures at polling sites. The Empire State does not require voters to show identification to prove their identity before voting.

Schiff's and Jeffries' remarks follow incendiary comments from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in which he assailed voter ID laws proposed in the SAVE Act as "Jim Crow 2.0." Supporters of the Save Act last week pointed to a video of then-President Obama being asked to show his ID when he arrived at the polls in Chicago to vote in the 2012 election as an example of the voter ID requirements being practical and not racist. Even the liberal media at the time made light of the fact that the poll workers joked with Obama, but did actually check that the photo on the driver's license matched Obama's face.