GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Republican US Senator Ron Johnson voted against ending the filibuster, blocking election legislation pushed by Democrats.
Johnson said on WTAQ’s ‘The Morning News with Matt and Earl’ that the bills weren’t needed.
“It simply wasn’t necessary,” Johnson told hosts Matt Z and Earl Brooker. “Show me someone who wanted to vote in the recent election who didn’t get the opportunity to vote?”
The legislation proposed by the democrats would have expanded absentee voting across the country. Johnson says that would be a bad idea.
“They’re trying to push exactly what the Baker-Carter Commission, a fully bipartisan commission, warned had the greatest probably of fraud: absentee ballots,” Johnson said.
Johnson says election bills should focus on restoring voter confidence in American elections.
“The fact that Milwaukee County can’t get its votes counted on time, and they deliver them sometime the next day when they know exactly how many votes to deliver,” said Johnson. “Now, whether anything untoward was happening or not, it just looks bad. It creates suspicion.”
In order to pass the bill, the senate would have had to change the filibuster rules, which requires 60 votes, instead of a simple majority, to begin and end debate on bills. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema crossed party lines to vote against ending it.
