Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked two election bills authored by Democrats that would have rolled back red-state voter integrity laws and increased federal oversight of elections.
The move by Republicans to filibuster the 700-page legislation triggered a plan by Democrats to vote on a change in the rules that would modify the 60-vote threshold and instead require lawmakers to engage in a nonstop speech in order to prevent final passage of the legislation.
“This is a moral moment in America,” Sen Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and advocate of the voting overhaul bills whose reelection bid in November may depend on blocking new Peach State voter integrity laws.
Democrats framed the legislation as critical for preserving equal access to the polls, while Republicans argued that the two bills, which were combined into one measure, would federalize elections, encourage voter fraud, and favor Democratic victories.
Republicans pointed out that many of the red states’ changes Democrats complain about leave in place far more permissive voting rules than those in some blue states.
Georgia allows 17 days of early voting, compared to nine days in New York, home of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware did not allow any days for early voting in the last election.
“If this is Jim Crow 2.0, then I have bad news because the Democratic leader’s home state of New York and the president’s home state of Delaware were engaged in what I guess you would call ‘Jim Crow 3.0.’”
Democrats pivoted to efforts to overhaul election and campaign laws after they failed to pass Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better legislation. The move also followed efforts by nearly three dozen states to reform election laws in order to improve voter integrity. Changes included the reversals of new regulations imposed under the pandemic, such as the widespread use of ballot boxes and mail-in voting. The new laws also added voter ID requirements.
The changes, Democrats said, would make it harder for people to vote.
Democrats argued that more access to voting provided under their legislation would ensure more equality.
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Minority communities have faced long lines to vote, which could easily discourage participation.
“We know in many parts of America [that] black voters have to wait twice as long in line than white voters to cast their ballot,” Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, said. “This is not just morally wrong — it’s an assault on who we are as a people.”
