Democrats May Be Blowing It on Voting Rights

Democrats May Be Blowing It on Voting Rights

Their options are to find a compromise, ditch the filibuster or fail entirely. 

Time for choosing.

Time for choosing.

Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty

Get Jonathan Bernstein’s newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe.

Are the Democrats in the midst of a colossal failure on voting rights?

Well, backing up a minute: Let’s not give Senate Republicans, all 50 of whom voted against the latest Democratic voting-rights bill on Wednesday, a pass. This is an issue that used to have bipartisan support, from the passage of the original Voting Rights Act in 1965, back when Southern Democrats were the strongest opponents, all the way through the latest renewal of the law in 2006, when it received a unanimous vote in the Senate and was signed by President George W. Bush. Of course, there were disputes along the way, but once the old Dixiecrats disappeared only a small group of conservative Republicans were comfortable with full-fledged opposition to a strong federal policy. Now, after Republican-nominated Supreme Court justices hollowed out that landmark law, Senate Republicans are unanimous in killing voting-rights legislation by filibuster. Nor do they seem interested in finding a compromise. That’s bad news for U.S. democracy.

Now, back to the Democrats, all of whom support voting rights but are currently stymied by the filibuster in the Senate. The observable data fits two stories.

The optimistic one goes like this. Some Democratic senators are highly reluctant to eliminate the filibuster, and think that even voting for a narrow exception (for, in this example, democracy) would destabilize the procedure even more and eventually destroy it. They are bending over backward, then, to satisfy themselves that there is no other option. That required actually seeing Republicans kill a succession of attempts at compromise, including a bill from Senator Joe Manchin intended to attract bipartisan support. Perhaps it will require additional attempts to find alternatives. But eventually, this story supposes, Manchin and the other reluctant senators will take whatever steps are necessary if no way forward can be found.

If that’s the case, then Democrats are presumably proceeding in the way they must to satisfy Manchin.

Unfortunately for voting rights, it’s also possible that Manchin (and perhaps others) simply rank the filibuster above voting rights. That would mean that passing anything is hopeless — at least for now — and it’s hard not to see the Democrats’ actions as flailing. In particular, I can’t see the point of bringing up Manchin’s version of the bill only to have it predictably defeated by filibuster after a few hours of Senate speeches that didn’t come close to making an impression on anyone.

What options are available? For one thing, there was no need to put voting rights on the Senate floor in the same week that negotiations over the unrelated reconciliation bill are the top story, with President Joe Biden giving a speech in support of that bill Wednesday in Scranton that didn’t mention voting rights or the importance of supporting democracy at all. For another, there was no reason to (once again) give the bill only a few hours. Yes, floor time is limited, but it’s not that limited. At the very least, Schumer could’ve held the Senate in session during one of the many recess weeks this year just to talk about the issue. Would that generate enough pressure to push Manchin and others to relent on the filibuster? Perhaps not — but it certainly could raise the visibility of the topic, demonstrate the party’s commitment to the cause, and make it a little more uncomfortable for wavering senators to hold out.

To be sure: If Manchin and others refuse to budge, and if Republicans refuse to back down, there’s no magic bullet available to Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or anyone else. It’s possible that there simply aren’t 60 votes for any bill to protect democracy, or 51 votes to change Senate procedures so that only a simple majority is necessary. That still calls for a better strategy, even if it wouldn’t result in a win. 

Or again, perhaps all of this is just what Manchin says he needs to get over the finish line. In that case, Schumer may be handling it as best he can, and they’re on target for passing a bill after all.