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US Major Voting Reforms: HR1

lpetrich

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Here is the bill: H.R.1 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): For the People Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Its summary:
For the People Act of 2021

This bill addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.

Specifically, the bill expands voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits removing voters from voter rolls.

The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting.

Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including sharing intelligence information with state election officials, supporting states in securing their election systems, developing a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institutions, establishing in the legislative branch the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions, and other provisions to improve the cybersecurity of election systems.

Further, the bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.

The bill addresses ethics in all three branches of government, including by requiring a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibiting Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establishing additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House.

The bill requires the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns.
It recently passed the House, but it would be hard for it to pass the Senate without ending the filibuster.
 
The overall vote:
Roll Call 62 | Bill Number: H. R. 1 - Mar 03, 2021, 11:02 PM | 117th Congress, 1st Session
D: Y 220, N 1
R: N 209, nv 2
The only Democrat to vote against it was Bennie G. Thompson of MS-02.

Cori Bush offered this amendment: H.Amdt.18 to H.R.1 - 117th Congress (2021-2022) | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
"An amendment numbered 14 printed in Part B of House Report 117-9 to clarify that felony convictions do not bar any eligible individual from voting in federal elections, including individuals who are currently incarcerated."

Roll Call 53 | Bill Number: H. R. 1 - Mar 02, 2021, 01:29 PM | 117th Congress, 1st Session
D: Y 97, N 119, nv 4
R: N 209, nv 2
Total: Y 97, N 328, nv 6
Being able to vote while still in jail was a bit much for many Reps, it seems.

Ayanna Pressley offred this amendment: H.Amdt.22 to H.R.1 - 117th Congress (2021-2022) | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
"An amendment numbered 37 printed in Part B of House Report 117-9 to lower the mandatory minimum voting age in Federal elections to 16 years of age."

Roll Call 57 | Bill Number: H. R. 1 - Mar 03, 2021, 01:04 PM | 117th Congress, 1st Session
D: Y 125, N 93, nv 2
R: N 209, nv 2
Total: Y 125, N 302, nv 4
There was a little bit more willingness to consider voting at 16.
 
Cori Bush on Twitter: "For the first time ever, the House took a vote on whether or not to end the cruelty of denying incarcerated people their right to vote. Our amendment didn’t pass, but 97 Democrats voted with us.

We will not stop fighting until we dismantle white supremacy in all of its forms." / Twitter

then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Proud to stand with you, @CoriBush." / Twitter


Trump CPAC Speech Attacks H.R. 1 Democracy Reform Bill
Naturally, at this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference, he and plenty of others railed against a bill currently making its way through Congress that would actually do something to shore up the health of that republic.
Then on the contents of HR 1.
The bill's sponsor, John Sarbanes, told me it's an amalgamation of what his constituents have told him, over and over, since he got to Congress in 2007: "We want to be able to vote for you, when you get there we want you to keep paying attention to us, and don't get tangled up in the money." Title one of the bill is the John Lewis Voter Empowerment Act, which would create automatic voter registration across the country, expand early and absentee voting, restore voting rights for felons, streamline the vote-by-mail process, and more. The bill also takes on partisan gerrymandering, which drives polarization and dysfunction in Congress, granting the power to draw congressional districts to independent commissions rather than party leaders who stand to benefit from hyper-partisan maps. The legislation takes on dark money and big money in our elections, introducing more transparency to the question of who—including big corporate entities—is spending millions to get people elected. It seeks to break the influence economy in Washington by introducing lobbying reforms.
Trump's response:
We have no time to waste. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress are racing to pass a flagrantly unconstitutional attack on the First Amendment and the integrity of our elections known as H.R. 1. Do you know what H.R. 1 is? It’s a disaster. Their bill would drastically restrict political speech, empower the federal government to shut down dissent and turn the Federal Election Commission into a partisan political weapon. In addition, it virtually eliminates voter ID requirements nationwide. Effectively ends all registration deadlines. Can you believe this? Requires states to give ballots to felons. Automatically registers every welfare recipient to vote and puts unaccountable unelected bureaucrats in charge of drawing congressional districts. That’s going to be a lot of fun. This monster must be stopped. It cannot be allowed to pass.
 
This is the sort of thing that Democrats are worried about.

Stolen-Election Myth Fuels G.O.P. Push to Change Voting Laws - The New York Times - "Republican legislators want big changes to the laws for elections and other aspects of governance. A fight over the ground rules for voting may follow."
Led by loyalists who embrace former President Donald J. Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election, Republicans in state legislatures nationwide are mounting extraordinary efforts to change the rules of voting and representation — and enhance their own political clout.

At the top of those efforts is a slew of bills raising new barriers to casting votes, particularly the mail ballots that Democrats flocked to in the 2020 election. But other measures go well beyond that, including tweaking Electoral College and judicial election rules for the benefit of Republicans; clamping down on citizen-led ballot initiatives; and outlawing private donations that provide resources for administering elections, which were crucial to the smooth November vote.

...
The party’s battle in the past decade to raise barriers to voting, principally among minorities, young people and other Democrat-leaning groups, has been waged under the banner of stopping voter fraud that multiple studies have shown barely exists.

“The typical response by a losing party in a functioning democracy is that they alter their platform to make it more appealing,” Kenneth Mayer, an expert on voting and elections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “Here the response is to try to keep people from voting. It’s dangerously antidemocratic.”
Stolen-election myth? When Republicans did better than expected? This seems like the stab-in-the-back political myth that became popular in Germany after WWI. According to it, Germany's WWI leaders stabbed their nation in the back by surrendering to the Western Allies, even though they wanted to save all that they could rather than risk a much worse defeat. One of its big advocates was Adolf Hitler, and he did an unsuccessful coup against the Weimar successors of those leaders, the Beer Hall Putsch.
 
The Gerrymander Battles Loom, as G.O.P. Looks to Press Its Advantage - The New York Times
With new census results coming, Republicans control redistricting in key states, while Democrats prepare for legal challenges and look to redraw some maps of their own.

...
Already, Republicans are discussing redrawing two suburban Atlanta districts held by Democrats to make one of them more Republican; slicing Democratic sections out of a Houston district that Republicans lost in 2018; and carving up a northeastern Ohio district held by Democrats since 1985.

“I would say that the national vote could be the same as this year two years from now, and redistricting by itself would easily be enough to alter who controls the chamber,” said Samuel S. Wang, the director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. He estimated that reapportionment alone could net the Republicans three seats, and gerrymandering in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida another five seats.

...
This year, Texas (with potentially three new seats) and Florida (two) are expected to be the biggest winners, while Illinois, New York and, for the first time, California will each lose seats once the Census Bureau makes the reapportionment figures official. That could give Republicans an inherent advantage in the midterm elections in November 2022 — regardless of Mr. Biden’s popularity then.
There are some jokers in the deck, however. The Republicans did unusually well last year, likely because of Trump being on the ballot, but he wasn't on the ballot in the Georgia Senate runoffs, and Democrats won both seats. So there's at least a chance that Republicans will lose more seats in 2022, though out-of-Presidency powers usually do better in midterms.
Adam Kincaid, the executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the party’s main mapmaking organization, said his energy will be directed toward the inevitable legal battles that will follow this year’s partisan map-drawing.

“If it wasn’t for lawsuits that were brought in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Florida, Republicans would be in the majority today,” Mr. Kincaid said. The things to focus on, he said, were “defending maps drawn by Republican legislatures and also being more aggressive about going after Democrat gerrymanders in the blue states.”
Republican gerrymandering good, Democratic gerrymandering bad.
 
Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, does not want to vote for HR 1. I like Mondaire Jones's response to his recent arguments.

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Sen. Manchin’s op-ed on the #ForThePeopleAct is full of unsound, unserious arguments.

Let’s unpack it." / Twitter


"Unfortunately, we now are witnessing that the fundamental right to vote has itself become overtly politicized. Today's debate about how to best protect our right to vote and to hold elections, however, is not about finding common ground, but seeking partisan advantage. Whether it is state laws that seek tc 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."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Only Democrats are having a “debate about how to best protect our right to vote.” State Republicans are ramming through voter suppression laws along party lines. There’s no comparison.

The solution is not to unilaterally surrender. It is to undo the damage. (link)" / Twitter


"As such, congressional action on federal voting rights legislation must be the result of both Democrats and Republicans coming together to find a pathway forward or we risk further dividing and destroying the republic we swore to protect and defend as elected officials."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Not a single Democrat voted for the 15th Amendment. Did that destroy our republic? (link)" / Twitter

"Democrats in Congress have a proposed a sweeping election reform bill called the For the People Act. This more than 800-page bill has garnered zero Republican support. Why? Are the very Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump because of actions that led to an attack on our democracy unwilling to support actions to strengthen our democracy? Are these same senators, whom many in my party applauded for their courage, now threats to the very democracy we seek to protect?"

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Yes. In any event, only 7 Senate Republicans voted to impeach Trump — not enough to overcome a filibuster.

If there aren’t 10 Republicans willing to investigate an insurrection that almost claimed their lives, there aren’t 10 Republicans willing to protect the right to vote. (link)" / Twitter


"As a reminder, just four short years ago, in 2017 when Republicans held control of the White House and Congress, President Donald Trump was publicly urging Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster. Then, it was Senate Democrats who were proudly defending the filibuster. Thirty-three Senate Democrats penned a letter to Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warning of the perils of eliminating the filibuster."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Four years and one insurrection later, Democrats have learned that today’s Republican Party poses a mortal threat to our democracy. (link)" / Twitter

"It has been said by much wiser people than me that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Well, what I've seen during my time in Washington is that every party in power will always want to exercise absolute power, absolutely. Our founders were wise to see the temptation of absolute power and built in specific checks and balances to force compromise that serves to preserve our fragile democracy. The Senate, its processes and rules, have evolved over time to make absolute power difficult while still delivering solutions to the issues facing our country and I believe that's the Senate's best quality."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "The filibuster has nothing to do with the Founders. In fact, the Founders specifically rejected the idea of requiring supermajority support for passing laws.

We cannot let this Jim Crow relic cement the new Jim Crow. (link)" / Twitter


"Yes, this process can be frustrating and slow. It will force compromises that are not always ideal. But consider the alternative. Do we really want to live in an America where one party can dictate and demand everything and anything it wants, whenever it wants? I"

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "That is exactly what we’re facing if we don’t pass the For the People Act: a generation of far-right minority rule by a party hostile to democracy itself.

The #ForThePeopleAct would simply give people the power to choose a better future. (link)" / Twitter


"The Voting Rights Act, for example, was monumental in the fight to guarantee freer and fairer elections in the United States. Since its original passage, it has been reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan votes five separate times. In addition, there is bipartisan support to pass the latest iteration of this legislation, the rightfully named John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "If we introduced H.R.4 and brought it to a vote, it would receive no more than 51 votes — not enough to overcome a filibuster.

And the bill would do nothing about gerrymandering, Big Money in politics, or the damage the GOP has already done in the states. (link)" / Twitter


"Of course, some in my party have argued that now is the time to discard such bipartisan voting reforms and embrace election reforms and policies solely supported by one party. Respectfully, I do not agree."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Actually, we’re arguing that we should pass necessary civil rights legislation that is bipartisan *among the people*. Just not with GOP politicians and the billionaires who bankroll them.

By dooming our democracy in the name of bipartisanship, Senator Manchin is betraying both. (link)" / Twitter


"American democracy is something special, it is bigger than one party, or the tweet-filled partisan attack politics of the moment. It is my sincere hope that all of us, especially those who are privileged to serve, remember our responsibility to do more to unite this country before it is too late."

Mondaire Jones on Twitter: "Senator Manchin is correct — democracy is special.

But if he refuses to budge from his position, ours will continue to unravel. (link)" / Twitter
 
It’s kinda funny that lefty Dems do not understand why a senator from a very red state resists being pushed to the left. I mean, hello?
 
Trump's response:
This monster must be stopped. It cannot be allowed to pass.

Given recent history this could be interpreted as a call for violence.

Of course it is. So what? And why not?
There is no penalty for Republicans making calls for violence, or for carrying out the violence that is called for by the Republican Leader.
Not like they're BLM or something.
HR1 is dead.
The fact of acreage getting more Senate representation than people, ensures the continuance of the current tyranny of the minority.
Once the rigged 2022 bloodbath is over, there will be no turning back from it.
 
Weird. When McCain went against his party he was a lauded as a hero.
We’d all be better off if politicians didn’t merely vote in lockstep together, regardless of the party.

However, we’d also be better off of everyone had equal access to voting, so we could be sure that politicians are best representing the values and priorities of all of their constituents.
 
It’s kinda funny that lefty Dems do not understand why a senator from a very red state resists being pushed to the left. I mean, hello?

We understand. However you live in a democracy. you are in the minority, man up.
I think it is funny that this is a partisan issue. It is funny that the GOP is scrambling to prevent all that voter fraud that didn't happen in 2020 from happening again by reducing voting sites and voting hours and days you can vote.
 
This Bill sounds like the feather dusting of old cobwebs off the current law books. The things conservatives seem to have the most issue with are the end of gerrymandering & felons getting their voting rights back. With both of those being considered a devastating blow to them, I can't help but wonder what is wrong with their party that it's hanging by these threads?
 
Weird. When McCain went against his party he was a lauded as a hero.

That is weird. It's almost as though the Republicans are such a pack of vile cunts, any position against them is met with approval.
 
Weird. When McCain went against his party he was a lauded as a hero.

That is weird. It's almost as though the Republicans are such a pack of vile cunts, any position against them is met with approval.

Well yeah, except for vile cunts, who like to pretend there's something weird about disapproving of vile cunts.
 
76% of W Virginians support HR1. 68% support the infrastructure bill. I don't understand what Manchin is thinking.
 
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