US Democrats Pass Controversial Voting Law

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – U.S. House Democrats voted for the most extensive overhaul of the nation’s election law in at least a generation despite unanimous Republican opposition and warnings is could undermine democracy.

The House Resolution 1, which touches on virtually every aspect of the electoral process, was approved on a near party-line 220-210 vote. The bill, also known as the “For the People Act,” guarantees massive mail voting and at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections.

It also requires U.S. states to use their existing government records to register citizens to vote automatically, restore voting rights to felons who have completed their prison sentences; and mandate the use of paper ballots.

Other provisions create new disclosure requirements for what Democrats call “dark money” donations to political groups. The bill also forces states to appoint independent commissions to draw congressional districts and create new federal standards for election equipment vendors.

The legislation also deals with ethics forcing tech platforms to disclose political advertising information. It establishes a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices for the first time; restructure the Federal Election Commission to an odd number of members to break partisan deadlocks. And the bill requires presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns.

Democrats view the legislation as a powerful counterweight to voting rights restrictions that they say are introduced in Republican-controlled states across the country.

They say the measures are introduced because of former President Donald J. Trump’s “repeated false claims” of a stolen 2020 election. Trump maintains the elections were rigged citing reports of “dead people voting” and alleged stuffing of ballot boxes, charges denied by election organizers.

The bill faced an uncertain fate in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it has little chance of passing without changes to procedural rules that currently allow Republicans to block it.

Ahead of late Wednesday’s vote ex-vice president Mike Pence spoke out against the bill, calling the legislation an “unconstitutional, reckless, and anti-democratic bill that would erode those foundational principles and could permanently damage our republic.”

“Every single proposed change in [House Resolution or] HR 1 serves one goal, and one goal only: to give leftists a permanent, unfair, and unconstitutional advantage in our political system,” he wrote in a column on the conservative The Daily Signal website.

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