Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took to MSNBC on Friday to deliver his verdict on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, declaring it “one of the worst, most anti-democracy things that’s ever been proposed.” 

An alarmed Schumer sees the bill’s push to verify voter eligibility as a threat to democracy, insisting it’s not really about voter ID. “It’s not,” he claimed. “They will remove 25 million people off the rolls.” 

According to Schumer, the legislation would force states to hand over their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security, where some terrible algorithm possibly influenced by Elon Musk and DOGE might actually check who should be voting. 

The New York Democrat promised fierce resistance, noting Democrats have already taken the matter to court and plan to fight it every step of the way.

The SAVE America Act seeks to strengthen protections against non-citizen voting and clean up inaccurate voter registration rolls — measures that polls have long shown enjoy broad public support. Republicans view it as basic election integrity, especially after years of documented concerns about loose verification processes.

Schumer’s dramatic characterization suggests that asking for proof of citizenship before casting a ballot ranks among the greatest threats to American voters in his book

.