Congress in the coming weeks will consider shoring up voting and election laws \u2014 efforts that will reflect the vast gulf between Democrats and Republicans on protecting a foundation of American democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The parties will unveil separate and competing proposals that will have little chance of success in a divided government, but are likely to be used to rally supporters ahead of the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Republicans on Monday released a proposal that would tighten voting laws and take a defiant stand against concerns that laws passed in recent years by GOP-controlled state legislatures<\/u><\/a> disadvantage some voters. Democrats, meanwhile, are preparing to reintroduce their own proposals to set federal voting standards and restore protections under the Voting Rights Act<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even as the country prepares for the next presidential election, the separate measures will underscore how the two major parties have acted with little cohesion and often are completely at odds over voting procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n House Republicans said they were sending a message by releasing their plan in Atlanta on the eve of Major League Baseball\u2019s All-Star Game. MLB withdrew<\/u><\/a> its midsummer game from the city\u2019s suburbs in 2021 over objections to the state enacting restrictive voting laws<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>The event also kickstarted a push in the House to pass the GOP\u2019s \u201cAmerican Confidence in Elections Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis legislation is the most substantive and conservative election integrity legislation that will come before the House in over a generation,\u201d Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, chair of the House Administration Committee, said Monday at a news conference held at a diner in an Atlanta suburb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt works to boost voters\u2019 confidence and uphold the Constitution by ensuring states maintain primary control over elections, not the federal government,\u201d Steil said at a hearing last month. \u201cThis is in stark contrast to House Democrats\u2019 efforts in the last two congresses, which would have nationalized our election system and centralized it in Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the 2020 presidential election, many Republican-led state legislatures have added ID requirements to mail voting, curtailed or banned the use of ballot drop boxes<\/u><\/a> and limited the ability<\/u><\/a> of someone to return a ballot on behalf of someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans in Georgia have touted the state\u2019s sweeping 2021 voting law as a model for national reform, arguing the 2022 midterms and solid voter turnout<\/u><\/a> were a rebuke to concerns the measure would result in voter suppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Georgia General Assembly has worked to create a system that makes it easier to vote, have results that can be audited and verified, give voters options for their preferred method of voting and build confidence using voter ID,\u201d former Georgia state Rep. Scot Turner, a Republican, told the House Administration Committee during a May hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Critics say voter assistance groups had to increase efforts<\/u><\/a> to counter the effects of the law, spending more money to educate voters and help ensure they could successfully cast a ballot despite facing new hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House GOP legislation would encourage states to examine voter lists, conduct post-election audits and enact other checks on voter eligibility. It also aims to make an example of Washington, D.C. voter laws by ending the district\u2019s policy of allowing non-citizens to vote for local offices and prohibiting election officials from sending unrequested absentee ballots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Republican legislation also includes provisions to loosen finance reporting requirements and other restrictions on political parties, as well as protect non-profit organizations that engage in political advocacy from disclosing their donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s all done in the name of \u201celection integrity\u201d and restoring voters\u2019 confidence in the results. But what often goes unsaid by Republicans is that former president Donald Trump<\/u><\/a> inflamed many of those doubts with his baseless insistence<\/u><\/a> that the 2020 election<\/u><\/a> was stolen from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The House Administration Committee allowed two Republican members of Georgia\u2019s congressional delegation, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/u><\/a> and Mike Collins, to join Monday\u2019s hearing. Greene, a close Trump ally who has echoed his election lies, used her time to rant against \u201copen borders,\u201d U.S. support for Ukraine and \u201ctrans ideology.\u201d She also argued that there was a widespread belief among voters that there was cheating in the 2020 election and voiced support for laws that require an ID card to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collins raised doubts about the security of machines from Dominion Voting Systems<\/u><\/a> \u2014 a company that has been the subject of false accusations from the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats say the sustained attacks<\/u><\/a> on the voting process by Trump and his allies<\/u><\/a> show that measures are needed to ensure free and fair elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmerica is under threat from election deniers and extremist anti-voting forces who undermine our democracy,\u201d said New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee. \u201cIn contrast, our agenda offers national standards that ensure every eligible American can participate in accessible, secure and transparent elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their long-running efforts to enact federal voting protections failed last year after Democrats were unable to secure enough votes in the Senate to overcome procedural rules used by Republicans to block them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While little has changed since then, Democrats argue it\u2019s important to keep pressing the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery soon we will once again move to bring real, much-needed voting rights legislation before Congress,\u201d Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats expect the proposals to closely mirror an updated bill that came together last year<\/u><\/a> with the involvement of Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. He had sought a compromise that could draw some Republican support, dropping some of the more controversial provisions and pushing to keep state-approved voter ID requirements under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, Republicans remained united in their opposition, arguing the bill was a Democratic power grab aimed at taking over federal elections. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named in honor of the former civil rights leader<\/u><\/a> and congressman from Georgia who died in 2020, would allow for federal review of voting law changes in certain jurisdictions to resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2013 decision<\/u><\/a> by the U.S. Supreme Court halted the process known as preclearance, after deciding the formula was outdated for identifying which jurisdictions should be subject to the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, states are not waiting for federal action \u2013 leading to a wave of election-related bills that sharply diverge based on the state and which party is in control. Where Democrats hold the majority, lawmakers have been focused on expanding access to voting, overhauling the redistricting process and restoring the right to vote for those with past felony convictions<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n California, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington are among the states that have passed comprehensive voting rights laws<\/u><\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Michigan, lawmakers have been busy passing legislation to implement a 2022 voter-approved initiative<\/u><\/a> that established nine days of early voting, the use of a photo ID or signed affidavit to verify a voter\u2019s identity and the use of a permanent absentee voter list, among other actions. Lawmakers also are weighing a proposal to create a state-level Voting Rights Act that would create a preclearance process for state-level review of local voting changes under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat in her second term, said Republicans in the U.S. House have so far been unwilling to confront false claims<\/u><\/a> about elections and to embrace voter-friendly policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen from this Congress really over the last six months is \u2014 instead of standing up to the lies around democracy \u2014 digging into them,\u201d Benson said. \u201cAny legislation that amplifies misinformation or codifies it, instead of debunking it, is going to be contrary to what we really need in Michigan and elsewhere to restore and ensure our voters have confidence in our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also called on Congress to provide a sustained level of funding for elections, rather than the scattershot approach that has resulted in a varying amount each year. A recent GOP budget proposal eliminated federal grants for state and local election offices to enhance election technology and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Monday\u2019s House Administration Committee hearing, Vernetta Nuriddin, a Democrat who is a former member of the election board in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, told lawmakers that changes to local election laws could indeed aid voters, but also warned against advancing partisan proposals. \u201cVoter confidence will grow only with complete transparency and the enactment of election laws reached by consensus and not by party lines,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n