Democrats are wasting their own time and credibility on voting rights

Chuck Schumer.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

Democrats are bringing the For the People Act up for a vote in the Senate this week. Frankly it's a huge waste of time.

We already know the act, a grab bag of voting rights provisions, will fail. It won't get the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, and — since it lacks the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — it won't even get the 50 votes to achieve a bare majority. The bill is dead on arrival, and all the activity surrounding its arrival on the Senate floor is just so much showmanship.

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One answer, of course, is "messaging": By holding this week's vote, Democrats are letting America know they believe voting rights are important. That's how politics works — sometimes you have to make a show of trying to do something, even if the attempt is futile.

But there is a danger that voters will see futile gestures as empty gestures. If Democrats are loudly lamenting that the end of democracy is near, but the best they can do is a useless messaging vote, it might not be unreasonable for Americans to assume that maybe the danger is not so imminent.

Thanks to opposition from Republicans led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democrats might not be able to pass a positive voting rights bill in any form. That's terrible. But it's not at all clear that wasting time on this doomed bill is a better option.

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Joel Mathis, The Week US

Joel Mathis is a writer with 30 years of newspaper and online journalism experience. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic and The Kansas City Star. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.