Senate To Discuss ‘For The People Act’ On Voting Rights This Week

A partisan showdown over voting rights is expected to play out on Capitol Hill this week, as Democratic leaders in the Senate have indicated they intend to bring sweeping voting rights legislation, the For the People Act, to the floor for consideration.

Democrats say this bill is needed to counter GOP-led efforts in many states to restrict voting access, in the wake of former President Donald Trump's defeat in November. Republicans say none of those state-level measures aims to restrict access to the ballot box and that Democrats are simply using that as an excuse to attempt and major power grab.

"This is not the direction that we should go," said Sen. James Lankford, (R) Oklahoma.

On the Senate floor last week, Senator Lankford made it clear he strongly opposes the bill, S.1, saying it would essentially strip away the ability of states - including Oklahoma - to run elections as they see fit and as the Constitution mandates.

"In Oklahoma, we know how we vote," said Sen. Lankford, "each state determines its own structure of how they vote."

The measure would apply only to federal elections. Among other things, it would require states to set up a system that automatically registers eligible citizens to vote, would guarantee no-excuse mail-in voting to all, and would expand early voting to two weeks. It would also loosen ID requirements - someone with an acceptable form of identification would be able to sign a sworn affidavit - and mandate same day registration in states that don't already have it.

Opponents say these changes are not needed, because voting rights are not under assault.

"In Oklahoma, you can do absentee mail-in voting with no excuses," Sen. Lankford explained to his Senate colleagues, "you can do in-person voting early; in fact, this year our state legislature met and they added another day of in-person voting."

Lankford and Republicans believe these changes will encourage ballot harvesting and open the door to voter fraud.

"That's why I say S.1 makes voting easy, cheating easy, and verifying elections impossible," Lankford stated.

The bill passed the House back in early March without the support of a single Republican member. It will need the support of at least ten Republicans in order to pass in the Senate.