Senators clash in debate over voting rights bill
WASHINGTON – Senators clashed Wednesday over sweeping voting rights legislation that would set federal standards on early and mail-in voting, and expand access to the polls.
The measure, called the For the People Act, is being examined in the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. The bill, one of the most expansive election reform measures introduced in Congress in decades, was lauded by Democrats and slammed by Republicans as being overreaching.
The bill recently passed the House 220-210, with one Democrat joining all voting Republicans to oppose the bill. Two Republicans did not vote.
Senate Rules Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Wednesday the legislation aims to make “voting easier, getting big money out of politics and strengthening ethics rules.”
“These are not radical proposals. These are ideas that nearly everyone in this country agrees with. And this bill, we can make them a reality,” Klobuchar said.
But Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the top Republican on the committee, said the legislation would be a “federal takeover of the election process” and “that would be an unmitigated disaster for our democracy.”
Among other things, the legislation seeks to increase voter turnout by expanding early voting, lessening identification requirements, allowing sameday registration and requiring states to set up automatic registration for federal elections for eligible voters.
It would also lessen the influence of gerrymandering and require states to establish a bipartisan independent commission to redraw their congressional districts every 10 years.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., spoke at the hearing, and said Republicans are trying to “disenfranchise” voters following losses during the 2020 election.
“Shame on them,” Schumer said. He queried, “I would like to ask my Republican colleagues: why are you so afraid of democracy? Why, instead of trying to win voters over that you lost in the last election, are you trying to prevent them from voting?”
Push for its passage from Democrats and advocates comes in the wake of many states adopting mostly Republican-sponsored election measures. More than 253 bills in 43 states have been introduced that would restrict access to voting, including reducing early voting hours, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law in New York City.
Opponents of those laws say they limit voter registration, early voting days, mail balloting and other provisions that disproportionately affect young voters, low-income voters and people of color, groups that historically tend to vote for Democrats. Republicans say the efforts, particularly at the state level where elections are run, are to protect against fraud and make sure only eligible voters can cast ballots.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., one of the co-sponsors of the bill, said, “We see the long lines in very poor communities. We see difficult places to reach or moved precinct polling places in areas that are primarily where Black Americans vote.”