Senator Raphael Warnock (D., Ga.) alleged that Republican-backed proposals on voting procedures were reminiscent of the “Jim Crow era,” during his first floor speech on Wednesday.
“We are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights and voter access unlike anything we have seen since the Jim Crow era,” Warnock said. “One person, one vote is being threatened right now. Politicians in my home state and all across America, in their craven lust for power, have launched a full-fledged assault on voting rights” and “democracy itself.”
The Georgia state legislature is attempting to limit absentee voting to residents who are over 65-years-old or disabled, or away from their district on Election Day. The measure is part of a wave of legislation introduced by state Republicans across the U.S. to enhance “election integrity,” following former President Trump’s claims that Democrats “stole” the 2020 elections for Joe Biden.
Warnock’s remarks came after Senate Democrats introduced an election-overhaul bill of their own, that would largely overturn the restrictions at the state level. That bill would, among other provisions, enact automatic voter registration nationwide and make it harder to remove irregular voters from voter rolls.
The bill, however, faces an obstacle in a 50-50 tied Senate, where legislation must clear a 60-vote threshold in order to avoid a filibuster. A number of progressive Democrats have called to eliminate the filibuster for legislation dealing with voting rights.
Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both moderate Democrats, have indicated that they are opposed to eliminating the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
After consistently voicing opposition to changing the filibuster, President Joe Biden said he’d be open to a return to the “talking” filibuster, which was maintained until 1972 and required senators to hold the floor by talking continuously in order to kill a bill.
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