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WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats have passed sweeping voting and ethics legislation over the Republican opposition unanimously, advancing in the Senate what would be the biggest overhaul of U.S. electoral law in at least a generation.
House Resolution 1, which touches virtually every aspect of the electoral process, was approved on Wednesday evening in a vote near line 220-210. This would restrict partisan gerrymandering congressional districts, remove barriers to voting, and bring transparency to a murky campaign finance system that allows high-net-worth donors to anonymously fund political causes.
The bill is a powerful counterweight to the restrictions on voting rights that are advancing in Republican-controlled states across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s repeated false claims about a stolen 2020 election. Yet he faces an uncertain fate in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where he is unlikely to pass without changes to the rules of procedure that currently allow Republicans to block him.
The stakes in the outcome are monumental, going so far as the fundamental idea that one person equals one vote, and having the potential to shape election results for years to come. It also offers a test of how strongly President Joe Biden and his party are prepared to fight for their priorities, as well as those of their constituents.
This bill “will put an end to the voter suppression that we see being debated right now,” said Rep. Nikema Williams, a new congresswoman who represents the Georgia District as late voting rights champion John Lewis has held for years. “This bill is the ‘right problem’ that he has fought his whole life.”
For Republicans, however, this would allow unwanted federal interference in state power to conduct their own elections – ultimately benefiting Democrats through higher turnout, especially among minorities.
“Democrats want to use their tiny majority not to pass bills to gain the confidence of voters, but to make sure they don’t lose more seats in the next election,” the minority leader said on Tuesday. in the House, Kevin McCarthy.
The measure has been a priority for Democrats since winning their House majority in 2018. But it has taken on added urgency in the wake of Trump’s false claims., which prompted the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol in January.
Courts and even Trump’s last attorney general, William Barr, have ruled his claims about the election to be baseless. But, driven by those lies, state lawmakers have introduced more than 200 bills in 43 states that would limit access to the ballot box, according to a tally maintained by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
In Iowa, the legislature voted to reduce early voting for absent and in-person, while preventing local election officials from creating additional sites to facilitate early voting. In Georgia, the House on Monday passed legislation requiring ID to vote by mail it would also allow counties to cancel in-person voting early on Sunday, when many black voters vote after church.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court appeared poised to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona, which could make it more difficult to challenge state election laws in the future.
When asked why supporters seek to uphold Arizona laws, which limit the number of people who can return mail-in ballots and allow ballots to be rejected if they are cast in the wrong way riding, an attorney for the state’s Republican Party has been incredibly clear.
“Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage compared to Democrats,” attorney Michael Carvin said. “Politics is a zero-sum game.”
The battle lines are quickly drawn by outside groups who plan to spend millions of dollars on advertising and awareness campaigns.
Republicans “aren’t even shy about it. They say the “quiet parties aloud,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, a left-wing group that aims to reduce the influence of corporate money in politics. His organization has launched a $ 10 million effort to support the bill. “For them, it’s not about protecting our democracy or protecting our elections. This is pure partisan political gain. “
The Conservatives, meanwhile, are mounting a $ 5 million lobbying campaign, urging moderate Democrats in the Senate to oppose the rule changes needed to pass the measure.
“HR 1 is not about improving elections,” said Ken Cuccinelli, a former homeland security official in the Trump administration who is leading the effort. “It’s pretty much the opposite. It is intended to smear elections. “
So what is really in the bill?
HR 1 would require states to automatically register eligible voters and offer same-day registration. This would limit the ability of states to purge registered voters from their lists and restore the voting rights of former criminals. Among dozens of other provisions, states should also offer 15 days of early voting and allow absentee voting without excuse.
On the cusp of a once-in-ten-year redistribution of congressional district boundaries, usually a fiercely partisan affair, the bill would require non-partisan committees to manage the process instead of state legislatures.
Many Republican opponents in Congress focused on more narrow aspects, such as creating a public funding system for Congressional campaigns that would be funded by fines and settlement proceeds from bad companies.
They also attacked an effort to reorganize the toothless federal election cop. That agency, the Federal Election Commission, has been in a partisan stalemate for years, allowing campaign finance violators to go unchecked.
Another section that has been at the center of Republican anger is said to force disclosure of donors to “black money” political groups, which attract wealthy interests seeking to influence the political process while remaining anonymous.
Yet the biggest hurdles lie in the Senate, which is split 50 to 50 between Republicans and Democrats.
On some laws, it only takes 51 votes to pass, with Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker. On a deeply divisive bill like this, they would need 60 votes under Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster – a record they are unlikely to achieve.
Some Democrats have discussed options such as lowering the threshold to break a filibuster or creating a workaround that would exempt priority legislation, including a separate voting rights bill. John Lewis. Biden has been cool with filibuster reforms, and Democratic congressional aides say conversations are fluid but ongoing.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not commit to a timeline, but vowed “to find the best way to take ambitious and bold action on many fronts.”
He said, “We are not going to be the legislative cemetery. … People are going to be forced to vote on them, yes or no, on a lot of very important and serious issues.
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Lisa Mascaro, PA Congress correspondent, contributed to this report.
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