"Unfortunately, we now are witnessing that the fundamental right to vote has itself become overtly politicized ... Whether it is state laws that seek to needlessly restrict voting or politicians who ignore the need to secure our elections, partisan policymaking won’t instill confidence in our democracy — it will destroy it." —Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va)
While Senator Manchin's premise is correct his conclusions, in a recent op-ed, go horribly wrong. He will neither vote for the For the People Act (S1), or support filibuster reform, needed to pass the bill. In a 50-50 divided Senate, that dooms the bill. It will fall victim to the inevitable Republican filibuster; which Mitch McConnell had no problem reforming when the Republicans used it to stack the Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority.
More than 400 bills restricting voting have been introduced, by state Republican legislators, in 47 states. All of these are aimed at suppressing the minority votes that gave the White House, Senate, and House to the Democrats in 2020. S1 is the political antidote to those bills. It would: facilitate registering to vote, roll back voter ID requirements, require states to provide online and same-day voter registration, mandate that states hold 15 days of early voting, allow voters to return ballots to conveniently placed drop boxes, and increase transparency in U.S. campaign finance laws by requiring “dark money” groups to disclose political donations.