Who on here supports the voting rights bill? And why?
I don’t like the wide ranging nature of the bill, so let me break down the summary a little:
This bill addresses voter registration and voting access, election integrity and security, redistricting, and campaign finance.
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 voter registration changes and expansion of early voting would certainly be welcome, and I’d be happy to trade a voter ID requirement for these changes across the board. I don’t think that mail-in voting needs to be such a big focus.
Next, the bill establishes Election Day as a federal holiday.
Given the number of useless federal holidays that already exist, I can’t fathom why this isn’t already one. You wouldn’t even need to add a holiday, just remove another one or celebrate it on Election Day.
The bill declares that the right of a U.S. citizen to vote in any election for federal office shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has been convicted of a criminal offense unless, at the time of the election, such individual is serving a felony sentence.
I agree with this, and don’t see why anyone would disagree since it excludes people serving a felony sentence.
The bill establishes certain federal criminal offenses related to voting. In particular, the bill establishes a new criminal offense for conduct (or attempted conduct) to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote or helping someone register to vote.
The devil would be in the details here, I guess. It sounds great to not interfere with people voting, but I doubt I’d like the implementation process.
Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including by requiring states to conduct post-election audits for federal elections. The bill outlines criteria for congressional redistricting and generally prohibits mid-decade redistricting.
I don’t think we need a new federal bill to outline election security, but am fine with the structure to it.
As for redistricting, I think it should be solely completed by independent third parties somehow. I just don’t think that state legislators have proven themselves to be trustworthy when it comes to equitable redistricting efforts on either side of the aisle.
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.
I don’t like the sound of the alternative campaign funding system, but have no specific objections here.
The issues tend to come with the details of specific portions of the bill, and that’s why I’d rather have these changes be debated individually.
