The basis of our political system is that we get to choose our leaders.
To preserve that right, we must prevent an undemocratic minority faction — which is what today’s GOP is — from getting in a position to overrule the voters.
Our existing laws are imperfectly designed for that and need beefing up. That’s in the works, so there’s reason for hope. In the Senate, Manchin (R-WV) and Murkowski (R-AK) head a bipartisan group working on legislation to reform the 1887 Electoral Count Act “to ensure that a losing party can never subvert the results of the Electoral College.” (Read story here.)
They’re also drafting improvements to the Help America Vote and Electoral Commissions acts “to increase protections for election workers and safeguard the chain of custody for ballots once they are cast.”
The strength of this effort is not only that it promises to address the two most serious threats to our democracy — overturning elections and bullying election workers — but has a chance to pass, although it remains to be seen whether enough Republican senators can be mustered to overcome the filibuster.
In that regard, Murkowski isn’t a mainstream Republican; she’s a GOP outlier who voted to remove Trump from office. I expect most Republican senators to vote against any legislation that makes it harder for their party to seize power they can’t win at the ballot box, because this is the track their party is on now. But a bill that has some Republican support has a better chance than one with no Republican support.
Manchin says, “I think absolutely it’ll pass. Now, there will be some people saying it’s not enough. There will be some people saying it’s more than what we should do or we don’t need it. And what we’ll do is try to bring them all together and say, ‘Listen, this is what we should do because this is what caused the problem. And it’s what we can do. So let’s do that.'” Which is a sensible way to approach the present impasse.
Murkowski said, “We are sitting down I think, again, as members in good faith to ensure that election integrity across all 50 states moves forward in a positive way.” If Republicans are willing to act in good faith to protect our democracy, I’ll take it, but I have to hold my breath on that one.
What I like about this project is they’re tackling the two most serious threats to our democracy. It won’t solve the problems of voter suppression, gerrymandering, dark money, and the like. But if they can pass a bill that makes it harder to pull off a coup of the sort Trump and his minions attempted a year ago, that’s the largest and most essential piece of the whole puzzle.
It may look like half a loaf to many Democrats, but they shouldn’t throw away what’s there in a futile effort to hold out for more. They should take it, then try to build it on, piece by piece, in the future as the balance of power in Congress allows. If Manchin, Murkowski, and their group can put this together, it will reduce the peril our democracy is in now.
Related story: Sen. Murkowski talks about her relationship with her party in a video here.