HR 1, known as the For For People Act, seeks to remove barriers to voting, reform the role of money in politics, and tighten federal ethical standards. Among the key principles of the bill to reform the country’s electoral system: allow e-mail voting without excuses, at least 15 days of early voting, automatic registration of voters and the restoration of voting rights to criminals who have served his prison sentence.
The Democrats ’comprehensive bill passed the House (for the second time) almost following the party’s line earlier this month and was tabled in the Senate this week. But it faces strong opposition from the Republican Party over its possible implications for future elections, including the 2022 averages, with some Republicans openly worried that wider access to the vote will hurt the party’s chances.
For Republicans, HR 1 represents a democratic “takeover” that could tip elections in their favor over the next few years, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. put it. An Arizona state lawmaker called her “anti-Republican.”
“HR 1 is an attempt to use the meager majority of Democrats to unleash the playing field and take away the rights of about half of the country’s voters,” said Mark Weaver, an Ohio-based GOP consultant and electoral legislation.
Other Republicans condemn the bill as a federal expense of state rights, saying the legislation will usurp the decentralized electoral system in favor of a nationalized and single approach.
And some Republican lawmakers, officials and strategists go even further, noting that the Republican Party’s opposition to such extensive electoral reforms is based on fear that it will make them lose elections.
“If Democrats approve HR 1, it will be absolutely devastating for Republicans in that country,” said Jay Williams, a Republican strategist in Georgia, a state that sees one of the most aggressive campaigns to restrict voting. “They’ll just make so many Republicans in places where they really have opportunities to pick them up.”
In Arizona, another battlefield that saw an attack of election-related legislative battles, Republican State Representative John Kavanagh told CNN, “Democrats value as many people as possible by voting and are willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in place that don’t allow everyone to vote, but not everyone should vote. “
After more than a decade of Republicans reducing access to the vote, the latest impetus comes after former President Donald Trump and his allies spent months sowing distrust in the electoral system based on false claims of an election “stolen.”
The move comes as many Republican lawmakers, some of whom transmitted Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread fraud, are now leaning into what they consider a lack of confidence in the Democratic process to justify its offensive. related to elections. According to the Brennan Justice Center, Republican lawmakers from 43 states have advanced at least 250 bills aimed at limiting absenteeism and early voting and enforcing stricter voter identification laws, among other provisions.
The HR 1 debate reflects the broader calculation within the Republican Party on how to win elections in the post-Trump era, when the most significant motivator for both parties is no longer in the vote. Both history and conventional wisdom point to an advantage for the party out of power in half, some Republicans are convinced that HR 1 could make a difference.
“I think stop [H.R. 1] it’s more about Republican success in the future than Donald Trump, “Williams said, as the former president remains the party’s most influential Republican.” The ramifications of passing legislation like this would be very difficult for Republicans to get that majority. “
But Republican fears do not necessarily permeate states where, even with the most votes, they found success in 2020, such as North Carolina, Ohio and Kentucky.
“I think it’s a mistake for Republicans to believe that under a particular voting model they can’t win elections. I think it’s wrong and absurd, but it’s the same mistake Democrats make trying to push HR 1,” Michael Adams said. The Republican secretary of state of Kentucky, before adding that in the last election, turnout led to the turnout of more registered Republicans than Democrats for the first time in state history.
Democrats, for their part, point to the wholesale Republican push to curb voting rights as the push to press HR 1 more urgently, which could serve as a counterweight to frustrate statewide voting limitation.
President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that the bill’s reforms “were urgently needed,” adding that he hopes “with interest to sign it into law after it has gone through the legislative process.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., highlighted the series of Republican attacks on the electoral system in his defense of the Senate’s complementary bill.
“If a political party believes that ‘we win the leaders we win, you cheated,’ if a political party believes that when you lose an election, the answer is not to win more votes, but to try to prevent the other side from voting. in our hands existential and serious threats to our democracy, “Schumer said Wednesday. “That’s why we need S.1. So bad.”
The proposal faces a complicated path forward to surpass the 60-vote threshold in the uniformly divided Senate unless Democrats reform the filibuster.
Biden said Wednesday in an interview with ABC News that he is not opposed to trying to get back to the “talking filibuster,” which would require opposing senators to talk non-stop on the Senate floor until the bill is withdrawn or advocates have the votes.
Schumer made it clear during a news conference Wednesday that Democrats will “decide on the appropriate steps to take” on the bill, as “failure is not an option.”
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