Senate Republicans block sweeping US voting rights measure

U.S. Senate Republicans on June 22 torpedoed a Democratic effort to protect voting rights and expand ballot access for all Americans, a flashpoint issue months after an election marred by Donald Trump's baseless allegations of fraud.

Waving off broad bipartisan public support for election law updates, the opposition party united to block the advancement of a sweeping package which would amount to the most expansive federal election reform in decades.
Democrats brought the "For the People Act" to the floor as a test vote, in reaction to controversial efforts by Republicans to enact strict new voting laws in dozens of states.

Critics have widely savaged those measures, which include restricting mail-in ballots, criminalizing the delivery of water to people waiting to vote, and limiting early Sunday voting hours as a way to deny Black churches' "souls to the polls" events.

The Democrats' historic bill, S1, is aimed at ensuring Americans can vote by mail, plus have full access to early voting and use of ballot drop boxes.

A version of the bill, which also reforms campaign finance laws and attempts to thwart gerrymandering or the partisan redrawing of district lines, passed the House of Representatives in March.

But the text failed on a strictly party line 50-50 vote in the Senate, where support from 60 senators was needed in order to even begin debating the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a scathing rebuke to Republicans as he sought to claim a moral victory.

While all Democrats voted to protect voting rights, "voter suppression has become part of the official platform of the Republican Party," he said.

Vowing that the fight was "far from over," President Joe Biden called the...

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