MOST READ
Get some leverage.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter.
Big Picture
Erin Scott/Getty Images
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is one of the lead sponsors on a GOP election integrity bill.
Senate Republicans introduce their own election reform legislation
Feb 26 2021
Days before the House is set to take up the sweeping democracy reform package known as HR 1, a handful of GOP senators proposed new legislation to "restore confidence" in American elections.
The so-called Save Democracy Act, which would create nationwide voting restrictions, was introduced Thursday by Rick Scott of Florida, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming — three of the eight Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. Lummis' home-state colleague John Barrasso is also co-sponsoring the bill, although he did not object to the election certification.
The Republican bill stands about as much chance of passing in the Senate as the doomed HR 1 does. With the filibuster still intact, neither bill is likely to achieve the 60 votes needed to pass, despite new polling that show the public's growing appetite for reform following the contentious presidential election.
<p>Knowing passage through the 50-50 Senate is an uphill battle for either party's bill, sponsors of both are leaning into messaging. For Republicans, that's bolstering election security following an election they claim — despite all evidence to the contrary — was riddled with fraud.</p>
<p>For Democrats, HR 1 is the culmination of years of work building support for democracy reform and its enactmeent would be especially important following an election in which many states expanded voting access due to the pandemic. The wide-ranging reform package would ease access to the ballot box, curb the influence of money in politics, end partisan <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/gerrymandering" target="_self">gerrymandering</a> and strengthen government ethics.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>A recent survey, conducted by Global Strategy Group and ALG Research for <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/end-citizens-united" target="_self">End Citizens United</a> and Let America Vote, found overwhelming support for reforms included in HR 1 regardless of political affiliation. The poll, released Friday, found that 81 percent of voters support the changes HR 1 would make to the country's political system. Democrats were almost unanimously in favor with 96 percent supporting the bill, and nearly three-quarters of Republicans (74 percent) and independents (73 percent) also were supportive.</p>
<p>The poll also found that just over two-thirds of those surveyed were more likely to vote for a Senate candidate who backed HR 1. The poll surveyed 1,271 likely voters in a dozen 2022 battleground states Feb. 9-15. It had a margin of error of 2.7 percent.</p>
<p>Conversely, the Republican senators' Save Democracy Act would impose new voter registration requirements, restrict absentee voting access and mandate certain rules around ballot processing and counting.</p>
<p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>It would prohibit automatic voter registration — which is currently used by 17 states, plus D.C. Individuals would also need to prove U.S. citizenship and provide their full Social Security number in order to register to vote.</p>
<p>Under the bill, absentee ballots would only be sent to voters who request them. Currently, nine states use an automatic mail ballot system, with five of them conducting elections primarily via the Postal Service. The bill would also prevent so-called "ballot harvesting," require drop boxes to be monitored and require mail ballots be received by Election Day.</p>
<p>The proposed legislation would also mandate the ballot counting process, once it begins, to be completed without pauses or delays. Presidential campaigns would be required to observe the process, and a post-election audit of the ballot tabulation would need to be completed within 30 days.</p>
<p>"What we saw this past election was confusion and chaos caused by inconsistent standards and last-minute changes to established election laws by state officials and activist judges. It's now more clear than ever that there is a serious need for major reforms to our election systems," Scott said in announcing his bill.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Republicans are also pushing hundreds of bills to restrict voting access in nearly every state legislature. According to the Brennan Center, <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/voting/voting-rights-legislation-2650170891" target="_self">more than 250 bills</a> have been introduced this year in 43 states.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Senate Democrats unite behind their version of HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
- Cuccinelli to lead conservative campaign against HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
- March vote set for HR 1 as parties harden reform postures - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Pool/Getty Images
President Biden and his fellow Democrats need to start their outreach by addressing those Americans who did not vote for Trump last year because they did not vote at all.
Guide to reviving the center: First, realize how half the electorate isn't polarized
Feb 26 2021
Anderson edited "Leveraging: A Political, Economic and Societal Framework" (Springer, 2014), has taught at five universities and ran for the Democratic nomination for a Maryland congressional seat in 2016.
<p>
There were 240 million eligible voters in the United States last fall, and Joe Biden and Donald Trump each got approximately one third of their votes.
</p><p>
Biden got 34 percent of these people to cast a ballot for him, Trump 31 percent. But, because of the math of the Electoral College, Trump would have secured re-election had only a combined 44,000 voters switched to him in Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia. Moreover, millions who cast their votes for Biden did not do so with passion, and the same holds for Trump.
</p><p>
So it's probably fair to say that half the electorate was not passionately behind one of the 2020 presidential candidates — the 80 million who decided not to cast a ballot at all, for starters, along with perhaps 40 million who voted for one candidate because they disliked, feared or hated the other one.
</p><p>
The new president and his fellow Democrats newly in control of Congress need to think seriously about these figures. After the latest economic rescue package is enacted, under special rules that will allow passage along party lines, the Democrats' immediate task is to figure out how to deal with the Republican minority, especially in a Senate where 40 members can block almost all legislation and the GOP holds 50 seats. But the larger task is to figure out how to build unity in the country.
</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>
Apart from wartime, it is always nearly impossible for the president and Congress, even if they are in the same party, to get 90 percent or even 80 percent of the country to stand for the same vision, values and policies. If Biden could get 70 percent or even 60 percent of adult Americans to approve of his leadership, that would be extraordinary.
</p><p>
"Here's the deal," as the president likes to say: Democrats in office need to stop assuming that they must convince Republicans across the country to agree with their proposals. Perhaps one in 10 people who identify as reliable GOP voters will be impossible to turn, because they are going to keep siding with the sorts of radicals who led the storming of the Capitol last month.
</p><p>
Instead, Democrats in power in Washington should start by addressing those Americans who did not vote for Trump last year because they did not vote at all. Many are moderates and independents, Most are what political scientists call "low information voters." And a good share are younger than 30.
</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>Democrats next need to think about building support among perhaps 20 million Republicans who voted for Trump but do not buy his lies about losing only because of widespread election fraud. At the same time, the party must work to firm up commitments from those who voted for Biden not because they loved him but because they felt that they had to.The deal, in other words, is not to tell Republicans they need to get aboard the Democratic ship because it's the only boat leaving the dock. This is the wrong picture.<br></p><p>
In short, building unity will be complicated, and therefore talking about it should not be in oversimplified terms. Indeed, it would be totally appropriate for Biden to commit to engaging those who stayed home, a solid share of Republicans who voted against him and those Democrats who voted for him without enthusiasm.
</p><p>
To that end, he may decide it makes sense to support election reform policies at the state or federal level. One example would be bids to end partisan <a data-linked-post="2636688309" href="https://thefulcrum.us/gerrymandering" target="_blank">gerrymandering</a> in order to increase presidential turnout in very blue and very red states. Many voters in these places now feel their votes for Congress are meaningless because they live in districts that are a total lock for one party or the other. Similarly, they may not vote for president either, assuming their choice won't matter since their state is a sure thing for one of the candidates.
</p><p>
Getting Washington on the same page with the country is going to involve dealing with the people of the country using a different playbook than the one dealing with the people in Washington. Biden would do well to expand his concept of the citizens he needs to reach, and then use that vision to help orchestrate his efforts in Congress.
</p><p>
This can be done not only by the public policies he supports but also by the language he uses to talk to the country.
</p><p>
It's important to have creative policies. The key is to convince politicians, interest groups and the public that policies are needed — whether $1,400 payments to most people, federal child care subsidies, better health care, funding for vaccine distribution or jobs for young Americans.
</p><p>
What is needed above all is a more inclusive language — one that rejects simplistic binary distinctions pitting Democrats against Republicans, false dichotomies and master dualisms that distort the nature of the body politic.
</p><p>
The road ahead has immense challenges, especially as the entwined pandemic and economic crises fester. But dealing with these crises — along with our racial tension and changing climate — requires throwing out the cookie cutters that set Democratic voters against Republican voters and overstate the polarization of the country.
</p><p>
The polarization story the media has hyped in recent years provides the wrong framework for understanding what we need from our federal government. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer need to stop looking at politics in terms of Democratic vs. Republican voters and Democratic vs. Republican politicians.
</p><div>
</div><p>
It's time for a more complex, realistic framework for creating a just society.
</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Don't give up on democracy, fellow young voters - The Fulcrum ›
- Not news to many: Fox, Times, Post among most divisive brands ... ›
- Americans much more unified because of the virus, poll finds - The ... ›
- American is divided into three parts, not two - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
Joshua Roberts/Getty Images
Ken Cuccinelli, a former deputy secretary of Homeland Security, is spearheading the campaign on behalf of anti-abortion groups.
Ex-Trump official to lead $5 million effort to stop HR 1
Feb 24 2021
Two anti-abortion groups have launched a $5 million campaign to block the passage of the sweeping democracy reform bill known as HR 1, which will be brought to the House floor next week.
Former Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli is at the helm of the Election Transparency Initiative, a program announced Tuesday by the Susan B. Anthony List and American Principles Project.
With every House Democrat already signed onto the legislation, HR 1 will likely pass through the House in early March. But getting enough "yes" votes in the 50-50 Senate will be much more challenging, if not impossible, especially with the filibuster still intact.
<p>The wide-ranging reform package would ease access to the ballot box, curb the influence of money in politics, end partisan gerrymandering and strengthen government ethics. Democrats first introduced the legislation in 2019, but were stymied by GOP opposition. In this Congress, HR 1 looks doomed to a similar fate.</p><p>The conservative groups, led by Cuccinelli, will seek to capitalize on the evenly split Senate by rallying opposition to HR 1, particularly in three states — Arizona, Montana and West Virginia — where moderate senators are most likely to break from the Democratic majority on big issues. Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin and Jon Tester have all vocally opposed nixing the filibuster, making their support all the more crucial in achieving the 60 votes needed to pass legislation.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>While managing the defense in Washington, Susan B. Anthony List and American Principles Project will simultaneously go on offense at the state level to bolster grassroots support for "meaningful reforms," said Cuccinelli, who served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration.</p><p>"The pro-life movement must engage in election transparency and integrity reform or their ability to elect pro-life, pro-family lawmakers — and pass laws that save lives — will be greatly diminished, if not extinguished," he said.</p><p>In the <a href="https://www.sba-list.org/newsroom/press-releases/susan-b-anthony-list-american-principles-project-launch-multi-million-election-transparency-initiative" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">campaign announcement</a>, Cuccinelli and the two organizations did not outline what election reforms they do support, but they strongly oppose the federalization of election laws through HR 1 and claimed that legislation would ensure "pro-abortion Democrats" had permanent control over the federal government.</p><p>"The integrity of our electoral system was severely compromised in 2020 when pro-abortion Democrats — utilizing the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse — weakened state laws that ensure free and fair elections," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List.</p><p>Nearly every state offered no-excuse absentee voting in the 2020 election due to the coronavirus pandemic, leading to historically high voter turnout. But now, GOP lawmakers across the country are looking to <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/big-picture/house-vote-on-hr-1" target="_self">roll back mail voting access</a>, falsely claiming such moves are necessary to combat fraud. Experts have repeatedly found no evidence of such fraud or misconduct with any method of voting in last year's election.</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p>
From Your Site Articles
- Senate Democrats unite behind their version of HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
- Democrats renew efforts to pass HR1 - The Fulcrum ›
- March vote set for HR 1 as parties harden reform postures - The ... ›
- Republicans introduce their own election reform legislation - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less
The Colombian city Cali offers one example of the power of democratic innovation, writes Leeighninger.
Time to apply ample lessons from abroad to improve democracy here
Feb 24 2021
Leighninger is the director of public engagement at Public Agenda, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and engagement organization focused on strengthening democracy, building trust and expanding economic opportunity. This is the first of an occasional series.
<p>Increasingly, people all over the world are asking how we can make democracy work in new and better ways. On all kinds of issues, people want more choices, more information, and more of a say. Whether the topic is how schools should work or what should be in the local budget, people want their voices to be heard.<br></p><p>
The United States is no exception. Americans are clearly looking for change: Our
<a href="https://www.publicagenda.org/reports/strengthening-democracy-what-do-americans-think/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yankelovich Democracy Monitor</a> research has found that Americans respond enthusiastically to new democratic practices and reforms — especially those giving citizens a greater voice in the decisions that affect their lives and promising more equitable, deliberative, collaborative relationships between citizens and governments.
</p><p>
The most significant challenge is that few understand how to bring about this kind of engagement and reform, or even that it can be done. Most Americans — including most local and state officials and their staff — lack practical knowledge about democratic innovation.
</p><p>
We can gain some democratic inspiration and practical knowledge by taking a look at innovations in other countries. Particularly at the local and state or provincial levels, there are many lessons to learn. Some cities have attained relatively high levels of public trust by creating coherent systems for civic engagement that give citizens meaningful roles in decision-making and problem-solving on many public issues and priorities.
</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>
The
<a href="https://medium.com/on-the-agenda/for-better-models-of-democracy-look-to-the-engaged-cities-of-cali-and-bologna-263391f88c46" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">examples of</a> Cali in Colombia and Bologna in Italy, two recent winners of the Engaged Cities Award given by Cities of Service, illustrate the power of these more democratic local systems. Innovative models for connecting citizens with state and provincial policymaking have also appeared in places like the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul and the state of Western Australia.
</p><p>
Many innovations in other countries — particularly in the Global South — engage much larger numbers, including marginalized populations. And they do so in ways that
<a href="http://www.tarsc.org/publications/documents/Shaping%20health%20synthesis%20report%202017.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">build social networks</a> and give people a more meaningful say in public decisions. Many also raise up <a href="https://www.publicagenda.org/reports/brazil-has-reduced-inequality-incrementally-can-we-do-the-same/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">issues of equity</a> and establish public platforms where people examine data on disparities and decide jointly how to address them; in some cases, these reforms have had tangible impacts on economic and political inequity.
</p><p>
Our <a href="https://www.publicagenda.org/newsroom/healthier-democracies-release/" target="_blank">Healthier Democracies</a> project will examine 10 local and five state or provincial examples from abroad in search of tactics and tools that could be applied in the United States.The work will help spotlight the strength of social networks, point to trust-building strategies and trust in government, gauge levels of support for volunteerism and assess how much influence people have on the public decisions that affect their lives. It will examine how equitable these reforms are, both in terms of who participates and how the outcomes affect different groups.
</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>
The new pressures brought by the pandemic have tested these models severely. Some seem to be passing the test, at least from initial reports. For example, the local and national democratic innovations
<a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2020-03-20/how-civic-technology-can-help-stop-pandemic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in Taiwan</a> seem to have helped the country respond successfully to Covid-19.
</p><p>
By examining democratic innovations at both the local and state or provincial levels, we can better understand how different types of engagement work at different levels — and gain a clearer sense of how to mix, match, combine and scale them. We may also understand better how the federal government can best support local and state engagement, and even find practices that could be "scaled up" to involve people across the country. We plan to share our learning over the course of the Healthier Democracies initiative through opinion pieces here, in webinars and through reports and video interviews.
</p><p>
In both the United States and around the world, it is critical we learn how to make democracy work better. As people become more dissatisfied with their political systems, their trust in public institutions continues to fall. This has enabled authoritarian figures, who argue that rule by a tyrant is better than rule by democracy, to seize power in many countries.
</p><p>
We should also recognize we need reforms to governance, not just elections. To understand the problems with our democracy, and the ways we might improve it, we should be looking at what happens in between elections and not just how we vote.
</p><p>Democracies can and should learn from one another in order to improve. Back in the 18th century, the initial designs for early American political institutions were informed by examples from other nations and cultures, including the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy) here in North America. Seeking inspiration and practical knowledge from other countries worked for us then, and can help us again today. <br></p>
From Your Site Articles
- Three ways to rebuild the system after a crippling campaign - The ... ›
- How to fix democracy? Public Agenda has some answers. - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep reading...
Show less