President Joe Biden’s Democrats took their push to protect U.S. voting rights to the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, where legislation is roundly expected to fail in the face of united Republican opposition.
Democrats argue the legislation, backed by civil rights groups, is needed to counter a Republican-led drive to make it more difficult to vote at the state level, especially for Black and other minority voters.
Republicans on Wednesday or Thursday are expected to block passage of the sweeping legislation, arguing the package is a partisan effort that would undermine local control of elections.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer cited the urgency of what he called an onslaught of new state limits to poll access.
He said a showdown vote on a bill establishing new minimum standards for federal elections administered by states would be held sometime this week.
“Democrats are prepared to fight on this issue until we succeed,” Schumer said, adding, “We have not reached the place where every person can vote easily and openly and honestly.”
Democrats are scrambling to act while they narrowly control both chambers of Congress. Republicans are favored to take a majority in at least one in the Nov. 8 elections.
With other elements of Biden’s domestic agenda stalled on Capitol Hill, Biden has called the vote a significant moment for a U.S. democracy facing crisis.
A Republican vote to block the legislation would trigger an attempt to change the Senate’s filibuster rule so that a simple majority of the 100-member Senate, instead of 60 votes, would be needed to pave the way for passing the bill, Schumer said.
The rules change, possible if backed by all 50 Democratic votes and Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie breaker, is also likely to fail amid opposition from at least two Democratic senators.
The two conservative Democrats, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, met Biden to discuss the matter on Thursday, but have since given no indication their opinion has shifted.
If the effort fails, the Senate could attempt to cobble together a far narrower election-reform bill, as some Republicans say they would like to avoid a repeat of the chaos that followed the 2020 U.S. presidential election when then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed he lost due to fraud.
The legislation now before the Senate would expand access to mail-in voting, tighten campaign finance rules, and strengthen federal oversight of elections in states that have a history of racial discrimination.
Lawmakers in 19 U.S. states have passed dozens of laws since Trump’s defeat limiting voting times and mail-in ballots and raising voter-ID requirements.
