Election Reform Again Gets Support, Opposition
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CHARLESTON -- With a second vote scheduled for next month on a federal election reform bill, supporters and opponents are making their voices heard.
The U.S. Senate is in recess until mid-September, when it is expected to take up a slimmed down version of S.1, the For the People Act based on compromise language from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
During the same early morning hours after the U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Aug. 10, the Senate voted 50-49 to discharge the For the People Act from committee. After an objection for immediate consideration was heard, the bill was scheduled for a procedural vote that will begin debate on the bill for the week of Sept. 13.
Two other bills were blocked by Republicans the morning of Aug. 10: a separate bill requiring increased transparency for dark money donation by political groups that currently are not required to reveal donors, and a bill to require redistricting be done by nonpartisan commissions. Both bills failed to receive the unanimous consent required to move forward.
The new For the People Act is still in the process of being written, but it will be loosely based on a version of the bill drafted by Manchin.
That version removed items from the original For the People Act that state and county elections officials objected to, such as no-excuse absentee voting (vote-by-mail), requiring the purchase of new voting machines, an expansion of ballot harvesting, public financing of campaigns, statehood for Washington, D.C., and changes to how counties conduct voter roll maintenance.
The Manchin For the People Act would include things already done in West Virginia, such as an expansive voter I.D. requirement allowing for multiple proofs of I.D., and automatic voter registration at state Division of Motor Vehicles offices unless a resident opts out (already effective in West Virginia as of July 1). The Manchin compromise would also expand early voting to 15 days and two weekends. make Election Day a federal holiday, and require use of computer models for redistricting.
"I've found common ground with my Democratic colleagues on a new version of the bill that ensures our elections are fair, accessible and secure," Manchin said in a statement in June. "As I have said before, the right to vote is fundamental to our American democracy and protecting that right should not be about party or politics. I remain committed to finding a bipartisan pathway forward because the future of our democracy is worth it."
The For the People Act is an expansive voting rights bill dealing with elections, campaign finance and ethics. Manchin, a former secretary of state for West Virginia, also supports an updated John Lewis Voting Rights Act, named for a former congressman and civil rights icon. The Voting Rights Act would give the federal government the authority to step in if a state's voting laws are discriminatory.
U.S Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, has been a vocal opponent of both the original For the People Act and the Manchin compromise. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Capito said she still needed to see what the new language for the bill would look like.
"We haven't really seen what those revisions are," Capito said. "I still have great concerns and opposition to some of the things and how it would impact West Virginia. I've been talking to county clerks in West Virginia who ran a great election in 2020. We'll see what happens as we move towards the fall …"
Secretary of State Mac Warner - the state's chief elections officer -- said Tuesday he remains opposed to the For the People Act or even a skinny version of the bill. Warner believes states should remain in control of their election laws and calls the bill federal overreach.
"All of those are an attempt to federalize or codify at the federal level the irregularities and improprieties that occurred during the 2020 election," Warner said. "All of these were ideas gathered from all across the United States and put into one bill to try to have elections run by federal government standards … any election laws that need to be adjusted need to be done through the state legislative process."
At the State Capitol Building on Tuesday, a small group of For the People Act supporters rallied in the hopes of persuading Capito to be open to compromise on the bill. Speakers included Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia Bishop W. Michie Klusmeyer; U.S. Army veteran Xavier Scott of Harrison County; Ian Smith, a Marshall University student and supporter of former president Donald Trump; and Gilbert City Council member Kyle Surber.
Erin Lehman, an organizer for pro-For the People Act group RepresentUs, said it was important to continue to keep the pressure on Capito and other Republican senators to get to the 60 votes needed to begin debating the bill.
"As the Senate is going off to recess, we want to keep this issue front and center for Shelley Moore Capito," Lehman said. "We know Joe Manchin has been working behind the scenes for the compromise bill. We want to make sure that everyone who possibly can be is part of that process. She's our other representative from West Virginia, so we need her to be at the table for us and advocating for things that matter to her constituents."