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McConnell pours cold water on election reform bill after Stacey Abrams endorses Manchin’s so-called ‘compromise’

June 17, 2021 | | Print Article

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams enthusiastically voiced her support for Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposed revisions to the left’s election reform bill that hands control of elections to the federal government. House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly rejected the so-called compromise.

On Thursday, Abrams stated that she “absolutely” could support the changes to the For the People Act that Manchin (D-WA) proposed in a memo. “What Sen. Manchin is putting forward are some basic building blocks that we need to ensure that democracy is accessible no matter your geography,” Abrams declared.

She called Manchin’s proposal a strong one “that will create a level playing field, will create standards that do not vary from state to state, and I think will ensure that every American has improved access to the right to vote.”

Abrams said that Manchin’s compromise is a “first and important step to preserving our democracy” as opposed to several Republican voter integrity laws enacted at the state level. “Those should be untenable to any American,” Abrams said in reference to the Republican election laws. “And if Joe Manchin and the U.S. senators who support this legislation are willing to come together on a compromise, then we will make progress. We will help to continue to ensure access to our democracy for as many Americans as possible. And that is always a native good.”

When asked about the voter ID provision, Abrams stated, “That’s one of the fallacies of Republican talking points that have been deeply disturbing. No one has ever objected to having to prove who you are to vote. It’s been part of our nation’s history since the inception of voting. What has been problematic is the kind of restrictive IDs we’ve seen pop up.” Many Republicans see that statement as blatantly untrue as Democrats have long pushed for dropping voter I.D. altogether.

McConnell, however, was not impressed. “Senate Democrats seem to have reached a so-called ‘compromise’ election takeover among themselves. In reality, the plan endorsed by Stacey Abrams is no compromise. It still subverts the First Amendment to supercharge cancel culture and the left’s name-and-shame campaign model. It takes redistricting away from state legislatures and hands it over to computers,” he stated. “And it still retains S. 1’s rotten core: an assault on the fundamental idea that states, not the federal government, should decide how to run their own elections.”

(Video Credit: The Hill)

Manchin announced last week that he would not support the election reform bill put forth by Democrats in its current form. His revisions primarily deal with items such as providing voter I.D. at polls in order to cast a ballot and early voting expansion. He reportedly also wants voter rolls cleaned up. None of those line items will change the For the People Act significantly and they will certainly not win over conservatives who will never approve of the federal government taking away the power of overseeing elections by the states.

Manchin’s proposal stands almost no chance of passing in the Senate. He would need ten Republicans to vote for it and that is unlikely to happen. There are a few Republicans however that seem to lean towards the legislation.

“He’s been talking with a range of Democrats. I hope he’s talking with a range of Republicans because he is the one who set the goalposts at a bipartisan bill,” said Trevor Potter, a former Republican FEC commissioner who now leads the Campaign Legal Center, which supports H.R. 1. “And the question is which Republicans is he working with, and which Republicans will sign on to this agenda?”

Quite a few Democrats support the compromise since Abrams is giving it the green light:

Others noted that McConnell and the Republicans hate Manchin’s plan:

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