“I hope not,” Graham responded. He touted other areas of legislation that currently appear to be moving forward in a bipartisan way, such as infrastructure and police reform.
Manchin’s slimmed-down voting rights proposal would make election day a national holiday, mandate at least 15 days of early voting nationwide, require states to send absentee ballots to eligible voters and ban partisan gerrymandering. Democrats’ effort to pass substantial voting rights legislation comes as Republican lawmakers in state legislatures across the country have pushed forward restrictive election reforms. Activists and Democratic lawmakers argue that these GOP measures amount to voter suppression, arguing that many of the bills particularly harm minority voters.