Senate

Schiff says photo ID will ‘suppress the vote’ despite most Democratic voters supporting it

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was adamant Sunday that requiring photo identification will “disenfranchise” voters from future elections. Democratic lawmakers are opposing the Republican-led Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which passed the House of Representatives last year and requires proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Schiff said he opposes a compromise of […]

By Asher Notheis · Washington Examiner

Published February 8, 2026 1:20pm EST | Updated February 8, 2026 1:20pm EST

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Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was adamant Sunday that requiring photo identification will “disenfranchise” voters from future elections.

Democratic lawmakers are opposing the Republican-led Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which passed the House of Representatives last year and requires proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Schiff said he opposes a compromise of requiring photo ID to vote in United States elections, describing the SAVE Act as a “voter suppression law.”

ABC News anchor Jon Karl spotlighted a poll from last year showing 83% of U.S. adults support a photo ID to vote, with 71% of Democrats supporting it. Schiff dismissed this, however.

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“It’s still going

to be something that disenfranchises people that don’t have the proper Real ID, driver’s license ID, that don’t have the ID necessary to vote, even though they are citizens,” Schiff said on ABC News’s This Week. “This is another way to simply try to suppress the vote, and the last thing I think we want to do is discourage more people, more citizens from voting while they’re attacking those same elections, while they’re trying to do away with absentee ballot voting, while they’re trying to do away with being able to register to vote through the DMV or by the mail.”

“So it’s part of the broader disenfranchisement effort, and no, I don’t think that’s the right direction,” Schiff said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has denied promising that Senate Republicans will weaken the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, telling the Washington Examiner this week that he only agreed to speak with the rest of his conference about it. Thune has been adamant about protecting the filibuster, which currently requires at least 60 senators to support bringing legislation to the Senate floor.

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Thune also downplayed President Donald Trump’s bid to “nationalize” voting, saying he is “a big believer in decentralized and distributed power.”

Billionaire and X owner Elon Musk, an ex-ally to Trump, reposted a statement on X saying he wants to abolish mail-in voting, making an exception for troops overseas or those with a serious medical condition. Musk wrote on X it is “critical to avoid fraud.”

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2026 Elections Adam Schiff Congress Polls Voting Voting rights