Can Joe Manchin of All People Trigger a Breakthrough on Voting Rights?
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images  Democrats frustrated by a lack of progress on landmark voting-rights proposals have trained a lot of their fire on Joe Manchin. He is the sole Senate Democrat opposing the For the People Act (S.1), a smorgasbord of voting and election changes, and a crucial opponent of the filibuster reforms that might make it possible to pass less ambitious legislation despite Republican obstruction, such as the John Lewis Voting Right Act. Now, all of a sudden, Manchin has unveiled a comprehensive compromise proposal on voting rights that could become a vehicle for getting something done in this area after all. As is generally the case in such legislative hamburger jobs, Manchins proposal has something to offend and attract people in both parties. Some Republicans will be pleased by a beefed-up voting ID requirement, a laissez-faire attitude towards voter roll purges, some fairly limited allowances for proactive mailing of absentee ballots without a prior application, and new restrictions on the Justice Departments power to veto voting and election law procedures under a restored Voting Rights Act. But the fact that Rick Hasen, a progressive voting rights advocate and election law expert, instantly urged Democrats to grab the deal indicates this may be the best chance available in this Congress, as is this reaction:  NEW: @SpeakerPelosi tells me she has seen @Sen_JoeManchins proposed changes to a pair of voting rights bills and believes there is a path to getting the bills passed. (More) pic.twitter.com/b5lh475buv  Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) June 16, 2021  At Slate, Hasen notes a number of positive key features of the Manchin proposal, including a requirement of 15 days of early voting in federal elections, automatic voter registration, limits on partisan gerrymandering, and improved campaign finance disclosure. Id add to that list the establishment of Election Day as a public holiday, and the partial restoration of the Voting Rights Act provisions gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. There remain some serious omissions, and areas in which the devil may be in the details. But at this point what the voting rights debate needs is, well, a starting point for debate, and Manchin may have supplied one. Basically Manchin needs enough Democratic encouragement to begin marketing his plan to Senate Republicans at a time when no one in that conference supports S.1, and only one, Lisa Murkowski, supports the John Lewis Act. Perhaps if he can make progress it would encourage him to make the big leap and endorse lowering the threshold for ending a filibuster from 60 to 55 votes, as he has occasionally said he was open to doing. There could be lots of ancillary benefits for Democrats if that were to happen. At this point, as the Senate prepares for what is expected to be a by-the-numbers polarized debate on S. 1, the most important thing may be Manchins shift from being a sanctimonious critic of his partys legislative proposals to becoming a constructive positive voice with specific ideas. As NBC News reported: Manchins proposal came as a welcome surprise to Democrats and activists pushing for passage of the For the People Act, who saw it as an opening to reshape the bill to win his support. That may be too optimistic, but as Hasen remarked, its no time to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And Joe Manchins counteroffer is pretty, pretty good.