Senate Republicans block Joe Manchin's voting rights bill

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published 21 October 2021

All 50 Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to block debate on the Freedom to Vote Act, the latest bill Democrats have brought to the floor to enshrine voting rights amid a raft of new restrictions Republicans have enacted at the state level. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) played a leading role in crafting this iteration of the voting rights package, and he spent months trying to persuade Republicans to support it.

Democrats hoped the uniform opposition from Republicans would move Manchin to support modifying the filibuster so voting rights legislation could pass with a simple majority, not the 60-vote supermajority demanded under longstanding filibuster rules. Manchin gave no sign his opposition to changing the filibuster had shifted.

The Freedom to Vote Act would make voting easier by setting national standards for early voting and vote-by-mail, requiring new "dark money" disclosure rules, and turning Election Day into a federal holiday. It scrapped provisions from earlier bills, also blocked by Republicans, that would have required nonpartisan redistricting commissions in every state, created new federal ethics rules, and ramped up public financing of congressional elections, among other changes.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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