By: Hellen Zaboulani
Democrats in the Senate are intent on making a statement regarding voting reform, despite the proposed legislation’s apparent doom.
As reported by the NY Post, on Tuesday the debate will begin in Senate over voting rights, with voting slated to take place on Wednesday. For the vote, the rules were changed, with a filibuster which would allow the bill to pass with a simple majority, though even this way getting them passed remains highly unlikely.
Last week, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats utilized a NASA-related bill to combine the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act and send the bill back to the Senate for another round.
The Freedom to Vote Act seeks to make it easier to vote, including allowing same-day voter registration, no-excuse mail voting, letting felons vote, and preventing states from requiring a photo ID to vote. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act wants to make it harder for certain states to change voting practices without federal clearance. Both the bills were already blocked by Republicans in the upper chamber, and this is a last resort tactic to keep GOP senators from blocking the debate.
Over the past few weeks, leading Democrats including Schumer and President Biden have been putting pressure on moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to back bypassing the filibuster so the bill can be forced forward. The two Senators, however, do not seem persuaded, and have repeatedly said they believe the law is a fundamental part of the chamber.
Notwithstanding, Schumer vowed to vote on the rule change. “Make no mistake, the United States Senate will — for the first time this Congress —debate voting rights legislation beginning on Tuesday. Members of this chamber were elected to debate and to vote, particularly on an issue as vital to the beating heart of our democracy as this one. And we will proceed,” Schumer said last week. “And if Senate Republicans choose obstruction over protecting the sacred right to vote — as we expect them to — the Senate will consider and vote on changing the Senate rules, as has been done many times before, to allow for passage of voting rights legislation.”
The vote was originally slated for Jan. 17, but because Sen. Brian Schatz’s (D-Hawaii) was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, Schumer delayed his plans. The Democratic lawmakers have made voting rights a central priority, arguing that the stricter voting laws adopted in several states have excluded minority voters, and adding that the reforms are needed to restore voter confidence in elections.
