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By Todd Lassa
As many Capitol Hill Republicans have re-coalesced behind former President Trump in the last couple of months, the chances the Senate passes the For The People Act, House Resolution 1 (of the 117th Congress) have dimmed.
What’s more, several Republican-controlled state legislatures--including those of Georgia, Texas, Iowa and Arizona--have passed bills designed ostensibly to crack down on voter fraud by making it harder to mail in an absentee ballot, for example.
The House of Representatives passed HR 1 last March. (Past is prologue: it passed in the House during the 116th Congress but died in the Senate). It expands early voting and allow same-day registration, loosens voter identification requirements, and triggers automatic voter registration for federal elections. The bill also restricts the purging of voters from the rolls (which some states’ laws require for those on the rolls who miss a certain number of consecutive elections) and allows registration of felons who have served their sentences.
HR 1 passed the House 220-210, with one Democrat joining Republicans in opposing the bill. Two House Republicans did not vote. It faces a much steeper hill in the Senate, where it needs the support of 10 Republicans to overcome a filibuster. Not only have no Republicans voiced support so far, Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-WV, has not committed his support.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, summarized his party’s objections to HR 1 in a Senate Hearing after it was passed by the House, calling it a “federal takeover of the election process” and describing it as “an unmitigated disaster for our democracy.”
Senate Bill 1 (yes, there was a similar bill for during the 116th Congress that went nowhere like its House counterpart), renamed for the late civil rights leader and Rep. John R. Lewis, D-GA, was written to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Shelby v. Holder (2013), which removed a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires states with a history of minority voter suppression (mostly in the South) to have any new voting requirements pre-cleared by federal courts or the Justice Department. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act has languished on Capitol Hill this year even more than HR 1, if such a thing is possible.
As mentioned, several states’ legislatures, especially in “swing” states where Donald J. Trump narrowly lost last November’s presidential election to Joseph R. Biden, are rushing to tighten voter requirements, thereby countering the federal proposals. At least 43 states had more than 250 such bills being circulated as of March, The Brennan Center for Justice estimated (https://thehustings.news/voter-fraud-or-voter-suppression/)
The first, and perhaps the most prominent of these, signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, R, makes these changes:
•Additional identification for absentee voting.
•Cuts the number of ballot drop boxes.
•Limits weekend days for early voting.
•Restricts handing out food and drink to voters waiting in long lines (“self-service” water stands are still allowed).
•Faster vote reporting.
•Runoff elections are five weeks shorter.
•The state election board won’t be chaired by the secretary of state.
The last provision is aimed at Georgia’s current secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who refused to “find” 11,780 votes from last November, enough to overturn Joseph R. Biden’s victory over Donald J. Trump in the state, as the former president pressured him to do in a phone call last December.
The fight for two different kinds of voter reform -- state legislation proponents say is written to clamp down on perceived fraud after mail-in ballots were made more accessible in 2020 during the pandemic, versus federal legislation that its proponents say makes it easier for citizens to vote, especially minorities and working class people – appears to be headed for a clash just in time for the November 2022 midterms.
Note: The Hustings debated “Voter Rights vs. Voter Suppression” on March 9, with