参议院民主党人周二推出了他们最新版本的全面选举一项改革法案，旨在对抗共和党领导的各州通过的创纪录数量的投票限制，他们表示，这些限制使少数族裔和低收入美国人更难投票。
修改后的法案，现在被称为投票自由法案，是在之前的人民法案之后的妥协未能通过去年六月在参议院。
值得注意的是，新法案是由一群温和派人士起草的参议员乔·曼钦这是一次关键的摇摆投票，此前他反对该法案的早期版本，指责该法案过于宽泛，缺乏两党支持。
纽约州参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)承诺下周就该法案进行投票，很可能是一次程序性投票，以打破共和党预期的阻挠议事行为。
“这是个好提议。这是在座的任何人都不应该反对的，”舒默周二上午在参议院说。“我的同事曼钦参议员正在与共和党人合作，以确保该法案获得支持，我们期待听到他们可能在立法方面做出的改变。”
参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔。，有了不同的看法。
“似乎每隔几周，民主党就会在这个问题上再跑一次。本周最新的“妥协”只是左翼和极左之间的妥协。这是华盛顿民主党人就他们应该攫取多少权力进行谈判的产物。它包含了许多与他们之前已经失败的收购尝试相同的致命缺陷，”麦康奈尔说。
“这些都是寻找问题的虚假解决方案，”麦康奈尔补充说，并指出共和党人“不会让华盛顿民主党人滥用他们在两院的微弱多数来推翻州和地方政府，并给自己任命一个全国选举委员会。”
新谈判的选举改革法案的变化。
新法案仍包括全面的选举法改革，从选民身份要求、扩大提前投票、将选举日定为全国假日、禁止党派不公正划分选区，以及实施选举安全和竞选融资措施。
但是被废除或修改的条款中包括自动邮寄选票。根据新措施，任何选民都可以要求邮寄选票，但不会自动寄出。该立法将继续允许选民名册清除，但要求更改“基于可靠和客观的证据，并禁止使用第三方发送的退回邮件来清除选民。”
该法案也将不再实施总统和国会选举的公共融资。尽管如此，仍有一些选举安全条款，包括强制在全国范围内使用纸质选票的机器。
在唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统虚假指控2020年总统选举被“窃取”后，共和党各州通过了修正案，赋予党派官员在选举结果中的发言权，为了解决这一问题，参议院民主党人在法案中提议建立“联邦保护，以隔离管理联邦选举的无党派州和地方官员，使其免受不当的党派干预或控制。”
“事实是，这项立法对于制止州一级发生的一些最恶劣的侵犯投票权的行为至关重要。几周前，得克萨斯州州长签署了全国最全面的选民压制法案之一，”舒默说。
投票权倡导者赞扬了该法案，并敦促参议院通过该立法。
“投票自由法案是一项非常强有力的法案。它为保护民主的斗争提供了强大的新动力。它应该很快通过，”NYU法学院布伦南司法中心主席迈克尔·沃尔德曼说。
“现在没有行动的替代品。随着重新划分在全国范围内展开，时间至关重要。两党的立法者都应该接受这项新的立法，如果他们真的想保护民主，他们就会这样做。
目前还不清楚这项法案是否会获得许多共和党人的支持，尽管曼钦一直在与温和派的莉萨·穆尔科斯基共和党人交谈。少数党阻止了民主党人对该法案的第一次尝试，声称这是一个寻找问题的解决方案，并坚持认为选举管理是各州的事，而不是联邦政府的事。
然而，不认为选举应该联邦化的缅因州参议员苏珊·科林斯暗示，她可以支持最新法案中的条款。
“他上周给我发了一份非常高水平的总结，他们看了，但没有很多细节充实。有两条规定，如果做得对，我会支持。一是披露黑金组织的贡献者，但这必须适用于所有人，”柯林斯说。
需要10名共和党人来克服众议院的阻挠议事规则，该规则要求大多数立法获得60票。要修改这一规则，所有50名民主党人都需要加入修改参议院规则的行列，以允许该立法以简单多数票通过——副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯打破了僵局——但曼钦断然拒绝支持这一非同寻常的举措。
“阻挠议事是永久性的，”当被问及投票权的具体划分时，曼钦告诉美国广播公司新闻。
在这一点上，似乎没有足够的共和党支持来通过这项措施，尽管曼钦表示，他正在继续与穆尔科斯基对话，参议院已经“取得了一些不错的进展”，找到了妥协。
曼钦周二对美国广播公司新闻部国会记者雷切尔·斯科特说:“我们从最初的立场做了一些重大改变，我们得到了一些很有意义的东西。
“我急于去和我所有的共和党朋友谈谈，这是我一直在做的，给出我们试图改变的轮廓，看看是否有阻挠议事的行为，”他补充道。
Senate Democrats introduce new voting rights bill
Senate Democrats on Tuesday introduced their latest version of a sweepingelectionreform bill to counter the record-number of voting restrictions that have passed in GOP-led states, which they say make it harder for minorities and low-income Americans to cast a ballot.
The modified bill, now known as The Freedom to Vote Act, is a compromise after the previous For The People Actfailed to passin the Senate last June.
Significantly, the new bill was crafted by a group that included moderateSen Joe Manchin, a key swing vote, after he opposed an earlier version of the legislation charging that it was too broad and lacked bipartisan support.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised a vote on the bill next week, most likely a procedural vote to break an expected GOP filibuster.
"This is a good proposal. One that nobody in this chamber should oppose," Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. "My colleague Sen. Manchin is working with Republicans to secure support for the bill and we look forward to hearing what changes they might make on legislation."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had a different take.
"Seemingly every few weeks, Democrats take another run at this. This week's latest 'compromise' is just a compromise between the left and the far left. It's the product of Washington Democrats negotiating with each other about how much power they should grab. It contains many of the same fatal flaws as their previous attempted takeovers that have already fallen flat," McConnell said.
"These are fake solutions in search of a problem," added McConnell, noting that Republicans "will not be letting Washington Democrats abuse their razor-thin majorities in both chambers to overrule state and local governments and appoint themselves a national Board of Elections on steroids."
Changes in the newly negotiated election reform bill.
The new bill still encompasses sweeping election law changes, from voter ID requirements, expanded early voting, making Election Day a national holiday, banning partisan gerrymandering, and implementing election security and campaign finance measures.
But among the provisions dropped or changed is the automatic mailing of ballots. Under the new measure, any voter may request a mail-in ballot but they are not sent out automatically. The legislation will continue to allow voter roll purges but requires changes to be "done on the basis of reliable and objective evidence and prohibits the use of returned mail sent by third parties to remove voters."
The bill would also no longer implement public financing of presidential and congressional elections. Still, there are a number of election security provisions, including mandatory, nationwide use of machines that deliver paper ballots.
In an attempt to address Republican states that passed changes giving partisan officials a say in election outcomes following President Donald Trump's false allegation that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen," Senate Democrats have proposed in the bill establishing "federal protections to insulate nonpartisan state and local officials who administer federal elections from undue partisan interference or control."
"The fact of the matter is that this legislation is critical for stopping some of the most egregious assaults against voting rights happening at the state level. A few weeks ago, the governor of Texas signed one of the most sweeping voter suppression bills in the entire country," Schumer said.
Voting rights advocates have praised the bill and are urging the Senate to pass the legislation.
"The Freedom to Vote Act is a very strong bill. It gives powerful new momentum to the fight to protect democracy. It should be passed, and soon," said Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.
"There is now no substitute for action. As redistricting unfolds across the country, time is of the essence. Lawmakers from both parties should embrace this new legislation, and will do so if they are serious about protecting democracy," he added.
It is unclear if this bill would garner the support of many Republicans, though Manchin has been talking to fellow moderate Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. The Minority blocked the Democrats' first stab at the bill claiming it was a solution in search of a problem and maintaining that election administration is the province of states -- not the federal government.
Yet, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who does not believe elections should be federalized, signaled there are provisions in the latest bill she could support.
"He sent me a very high-level summary last week which they read, but it does not have many of the details fleshed out. There are two provisions in that if they're done correctly I would support. One is the disclosure of contributors to dark money groups, but it has to apply to all of them," Collins said.
Ten Republicans would be needed to overcome the chamber's filibuster rule requiring 60 votes for most legislation. To modify that rule, all 50 Democrats would need to be on board with changing Senate rules to allow the legislation to pass on a simple majority vote -- with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie -- but Manchin has point blank refused to support such an extraordinary move.
"The filibuster is permanent," Manchin told ABC News when pressed on a voting rights specific carve-out.
At this point, it appears there is not likely to be enough GOP support to pass the measure, though Manchin said he's continuing conversations with Murkowski and that the Senate has "made some good strides" finding compromise.
"We made some major changes from the original position we're taking and we've got something that makes a lot of sense," Manchin told ABC News' Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott on Tuesday.
"I'm anxious to go talk to all my Republican friends, which I've been doing, giving the outline of what we're trying to change and see if there's a filibuster," he added.
