Mountain State Times

In a recent commentary, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, reiterated his opposition to what he views as federal seizure of the states' authority to establish their own election laws, the For the People Act embodied in House Resolution 1 and Senate Bill 1. 

Manchin also explained why he continues to support the Senate filibuster, a procedural move that is helping to keep H.R. 1 bottled up – and one now opposed by some of same Democratic senators who supported it just a few years before.

“As a reminder, just four short years ago, in 2017 when Republicans held control of the White House and Congress, President Donald Trump was publicly urging Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster,” Manchin wrote. “Then it was Senate Democrats who were proudly defending the filibuster. Thirty-three Senate Democrats penned a letter to Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), warning of the perils of eliminating the filibuster.”

The trouble, Manchin wrote, lies with the loss of any effort to find “common ground” on election reform in an evenly divided Senate. Rather, the legislation is about “seeking partisan advantage.”

“As such, congressional action on federal voting rights legislation must be the result of both Democrats and Republicans coming together to find a pathway forward or we risk further dividing and destroying the republic we swore to protect and defend as elected officials,” he wrote.

Manchin also says passage of the 800-page bill will “ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” given that the bill has no Republican support.

He defended not only the filibuster but other procedural rules as well, those that can sometimes make the process “frustrating and slow” but they “have evolved over time to make absolute power difficult.”

The senator wrote that the alternative is living in a country “where one party can dictate and demand everything and anything it wants, whenever it wants.”

“I have always said, ‘If I can’t go home and explain it, I can’t vote for it.’ And I cannot explain strictly partisan election reform or blowing up the Senate rules to expedite one party’s agenda.”

The federal law would override many state law voting provisions, including popular voter ID requirements.

A March 2021 survey by pollster Rasmussen Reports found that 75% of likely U.S. voters believe Americans should be required to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to vote. Only 21% oppose it.