Senate to Vote on Democrats' Latest Election Reform Bill Despite GOP Opposition

What’s the story?

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Monday scheduled a procedural vote on Democrats’ latest election reform bill, known as the Freedom to Vote Act, to occur on Wednesday despite Republicans signaling that they intend to block the measure in the evenly-divided chamber.
• Democratic senators negotiated the bill amongst themselves after they were unable to agree on all elements of the For the People Act, which House Democrats passed along party-lines. In a floor speech announcing the vote, Schumer noted, “This bill represents the first time every single Senate Democrat has united on voting rights legislation”.
• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who opposed the For the People Act’s restrictions on voter identification rules, said on the introduction of the new bill that was based on a framework he released over the summer:

“The right to vote is fundamental to our Democracy and the Freedom to Vote Act is a step in the right direction towards protecting that right for every American. As elected officials, we also have an obligation to restore peoples’ faith in our Democracy, and I believe that the commonsense provisions in this bill - like flexible voter ID requirements - will do just that.”

• When the Senate took a failed procedural vote on the For the People Act, Manchin joined Democrats in voting to start debate on the measure despite his opposition. That vote failed because Republicans unanimously opposed the measure and it fell short of the 60 vote threshold needed to overcome the legislative filibuster.
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled in a statement that Democrats’ latest election reform bill is a “partisan power grab” that is doomed to fail:

“The Senate is designed to stop bad ideas and purely partisan proposals while helping truly necessary and bipartisan bills become law. As we have shown in the recent past, the Senate is fully capable of making law in this area when actual issues need actual solutions and actual bipartisan work occurs. By contrast, there is nothing necessary or bipartisan about this naked power grab, so it will continue to go nowhere.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Capitol: iStock.com / Robert Arango Lopez)