House Passes Landmark Election Reform Bill To Vastly Expand Voting Access, Bill Now Advances To Senate


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Topline

House Democrats pushed past Republican opposition Wednesday to pass sweeping ethics, government and electoral reforms that would vastly expand voting access, boost transparency to political financing and institute more powerful ethical oversight for members of Congress, the president and Supreme Court justices.   

Key Facts

The For the People Act, dubbed House Resolution 1 (H.R. 1), is a key Democratic priority intended to restore faith in the U.S. electoral system, strike down barriers to voting and increase government accountability and was passed with a 220-210 vote.

The bill would bring about some of the most significant changes to U.S. voting law in decades, and would force states to hand over the power to draw congressional district boundaries to independent commissions. 

States would also be required to automatically register eligible voters, restore voting rights to former felons and offer early voting and no-excuse absentee balloting. 

Republicans fiercely oppose the bill—which President Biden has said he will sign into law if passed by both houses—deeming it a self-serving power grab by Democrats that limits political speech.  

In addition to electoral reforms, the bill would also bring about wide-reaching ethics and accountability reforms, including a code of ethics for the U.S. Supreme Court justices, a ban on congressional legislators sitting on corporate boards and bringing transparency to campaign financing. 

The bill would also require presidents and vice presidents to make their tax returns publicly available, something Donald Trump consistently refused to do. 

Key Background

The bill comes ahead of a once-a-decade redrawing of congressional districts and as numerous restrictions on voting access are working through at least 28 state legislatures. The restrictions—which include limits to who can vote by mail, more stringent voter ID laws and tougher purging policies—are primarily driven by widespread and false claims of voter fraud and election stealing in the 2020 election which have no basis and have repeatedly been struck down in court. Pennsylvania (where mail-in votes handed Biden a victory) Republicans, for instance, have introduced several bills to roll-back no-excuse mail voting to restore “integrity and trust” in the voting system. Republicans in Arizona, which flipped Democrat in 2020, recently introduced legislation to rescind rules allowing voters to automatically get ballots by mail and both Georgia and New Hampshire are considering legislation to compel voters to include a copy of photo ID with absentee ballot applications and completed ballots.

Tangent 

In recent years, voting access has become a key partisan issue and a similar version of H.R. 1 passed the House during the last Congress. It floundered in the Republican-controlled Senate. 

What To Watch For

The bill now heads to the Senate, narrowly controlled by Democrats through Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaker, where it is expected to face fierce Republican opposition. It is expected to face an uphill battle to secure the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.

Surprising Fact

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has remained notably silent since a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and threatened to kill him over baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud in early January, spoke out against the legislation Wednesday. In an op-ed article for conservative news site The Daily Signal, Pence reanimated false claims of voter fraud and claimed the bill would cement the processes that made it possible. 

Further Reading

House passes sweeping government, ethics and election bill (CNN)

Targeting State Restrictions, House Passes Landmark Voting Rights Expansion (NYT)

Pence Breaks Jan. 6 Silence With Vague 2020 Election Conspiracy (Forbes)

House passes voting rights and elections reform bill (The Hill)

More than 100 bills that would restrict voting are moving through state legislatures (CNN)

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