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No, Chuck Schumer didn't say it is racist to only allow citizens to vote
A blog took U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s op-ed about voting rights and twisted it to state that he supported allowing non-citizens to vote.
"Chuck Schumer slams President Trump: ‘it’s racist to only allow citizens to vote," said an April 3 headline on Federer Now, a right-wing blog.
Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social network’s efforts to combat online hoaxes. We found that the story, which appeared to be lifted from other websites, distorted what Schumer actually said about voting rights.
While readers of the blog could assume that the statements by Schumer were recent, they actually came from his Aug. 24, 2017, Medium post in which he called on Trump to disband his Election Integrity Commission.
Trump formed the commission in 2017 in an effort to ferret out voter fraud which Trump portrayed as "large scale," even though national experts have said fraud is isolated and rare.
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Trump disbanded the commission in January 2018 after pushback from many states, infighting on the commission and multiple lawsuits.
The Federer Now blog plucked some actual quotes by Schumer from his Medium post including this one: "If the president wants to truly show that he rejects the discrimination agenda of the white supremacist movement, he will rescind the Executive Order that created this commission."
But then the blog made some declarations about Schumer’s opinions, which were not rooted in fact. For example it said that Schumer "has declared restricting voting to only Americans as an exercise in racism. "
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Schumer’s Medium post made no mention of restricting voting to citizens. The point of Schumer’s op-ed was to argue that voting rights are "under assault" by Trump and many states and that such laws are racist and an effort to disenfranchise minority voters.
Schumer described Trump’s Election Integrity Commission as an "effort to intimidate voters and purge them from the rolls."
Schumer spokesman Matt House told PolitiFact that Schumer hasn’t called for allowing non-citizens to vote. Only citizens can generally vote in elections, although a few local governments have allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections.
We rate this headline False.
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Our Sources
Federer Now, "Chuck Schumer SLAMS President Trump : "It’s Racist To Only Allow Citizens To Vote," April 3, 2018
Viral News Political, "Chuck Schumer SLAMS President Trump : "It’s Racist To Only Allow Citizens To Vote," Feb. 15, 2018
Medium Post by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, "After Charlottesville, It’s Time to End the Assault on Voting Rights," Aug. 24, 2017
Newsday, "Schumer: Trump commission's aim is to 'disenfranchise voters,'" Aug. 25, 2017
PolitiFact, "Donald Trump's Pants on Fire claim of 'large scale voter fraud,’" Oct. 17, 2016
PolitiFact, "Donald Trump blames Democratic states on lack of data showing voter fraud," Jan. 5, 2018
PolitiFact, "Can noncitizens vote in San Francisco, Takoma Park elections?" Sept. 15, 2017
Interview, Matt House, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer spokesman, April 5, 2018
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No, Chuck Schumer didn't say it is racist to only allow citizens to vote
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