The move by Republicans to filibuster the 700-page legislation triggered a plan by Democrats to vote on a change in the rules that would modify the 60-vote threshold and instead require lawmakers to engage in a nonstop speech in order to prevent the final passage of the legislation.
“This is a moral moment in America,” Sen Raphael Warnock, Georgia Democrat, and advocate of the voting overhaul bills whose reelection bid in November may rely on blocking new peach state voter integrity laws. Democrats presented the legislation as vital for preserving equal access to the polls, while Republicans argued that the two bills, combined into one measure, would federalize elections, encourage voter fraud, and favor Democratic victories.
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Republicans pointed out that in many of the red states' changes Democrats complain about far more permissive voting rules than those in some blue states.
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Georgia permits 17 days of early voting, compared to nine days in New York, home of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware did not allow any days for early voting in the last election. “If this is Jim Crow 2.0, then I have bad news because the Democratic leader’s home state of New York and the president’s home state of Delaware were engaged in what I guess you would call 'Jim Crow 3.0.'”
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Democrats pivoted to overhauling election and campaign laws after they failed to pass Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better legislation. The move also followed nearly three dozen states' efforts to reform election laws to improve voter integrity. Changes included reversing new regulations imposed under the pandemic, such as the widespread use of ballot boxes and mail-in voting. The new laws also added voter ID requirements. The changes, Democrats stress, would make it harder for people to vote.
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Democrats argued that more access to voting provided under their legislation would ensure more equality.
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Minority communities have faced long lines while waiting to vote, which could easily discourage participation.
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“We know in many parts of America [that] black voters have to wait twice as long in line than white voters to cast their ballot,” Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, said. “This is not just morally wrong — it’s an assault on who we are as a people.”