During 2021, numerous state legislative efforts to enact new voter suppression laws demonstrated the need for Federal intervention. In one of the most visible states, Texas passed its third such bill this year. The one such bill introduced in West Virginia passed in the state Senate but failed in the House of Delegates.
On September 14, Sens. Manchin (WV), Klobuchar (MN), Kaine (VA), King (ME), Merkley (OR), Padilla (CA), Tester (MT), and Warnock (GA) released the new Freedom to Vote Act (S 2747) to address many of these issues.
What will the Freedom to Vote Act do?
- advance voter access with reliable state best practices for voter registration and election administration so that all Americans can more easily vote in every state,
- promote confidence in elections,
- stop partisan election subversion,
- protect against election interference, foreign and domestic.
- prevent partisan manipulation of the redistricting process,
- establish uniform disclosure standards for money in politics,
- empower states to make critical investments in their election systems.
The Freedom to Vote Act (highlights below), a revision of the For the People Act, was designed to gain support among Senators, Sen. Manchin included. Sen. Manchin was tasked with finding enough Republican votes to overcome a Senate filibuster. He failed. This led to the need for filibuster reform, which has also failed (for now).
Despite what you may have heard, the Freedom to Vote Act is not a “Federal takeover” of State and local elections. The Constitution gives Congress authority to regulate Federal elections across all states. Minimum standards for voting across the states are completely in line with the principle of one-person-one-vote. And that is the purpose of the Freedom to Vote Act: ensuring that voters in West Virginia and Texas and North Carolina and Montana and California and Oregon and Georgia, etc. are all treated essentially the same and that no voter faces unreasonable barriers in Federal elections.
ACTION NEEDED:
We urge all members of the League to contact Sen. Manchin to express our gratitude for his support of voting rights, as expressed in the Freedom to Vote Act.
LWV-US and LWV-WV also urge everyone to press Sen. Manchin and Sen. Capito to take whatever actions are necessary in the Senate, including reform or elimination of the filibuster, to ensure that voting rights are secured.
HIGHLIGHTS of the FREEDOM TO VOTE ACT
Voter Access:
- Automatic Voter Registration and Online Voter Registration
- Election Day Holiday
- Uniform Early Voting
- Same Day Voter Registration
- Federal Minimum Standards on Vote by Mail and Drop Boxes
- Voting Rights Restoration for Returning Citizens
- Expanded Voting Access Protections for the Disabled, Native Americans, Military, Overseas Voters, and Underserved Communities
Election Administration:
- Strengthen Voter List Maintenance Standards
- Counting of Provisional Ballots
- Standards for Voter Identification in States that Require Voter ID
Election Integrity:
- Prevent State Election Subversion
- Protect Election Records, Election Infrastructure, and Ballot Tabulation
- Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, Reliable Audits, and Voting System Upgrades
- Non-Partisan Election Official Recruitment and Training
- Comprehensive Voting System Security Protections
Civic Participation and Empowerment”
- Non-Partisan Redistricting Reform and Ban on Partisan Gerrymandering
- Combat Secret Money and Election Interference (DISCLOSE Act and Honest Ads Act)
- State Election Assistance and Innovation Fund
- Nonpartisan Oversight of Federal Election Law
- Stop Illicit Super PAC Coordination