Mitch McConnell calls voting rights bill a ‘solution in search of a problem’ as GOP mounts ‘despicable’ effort to restrict ballot access
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Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has criticised a sweeping voting rights proposal as a “solution in search of a problem” despite more than 250 proposals in statehouses across the US to restrict ballot access.
He called the measure an attempt among congressional Democrats to “rewrite the rules of our system” as he claimed that GOP lawmakers “are not engaging in trying to suppress voters, whatsoever.”
His comments preceded a Senate Rules Committee hearing on S1, or the For the People Act, which would adopt the largest voting rights and election protection rules since the passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act, if signed into law.
The measure serves as an antidote to the wave of suppressive voting rights measures in at least 43 state legislatures, propelled by spurious claims of voting “irregularities” in 2020 elections and Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race.
The For The People Act would standardise voting access at the federal level, eliminate long-standing barriers to voting and allow candidates with smaller platforms to wield more political power, among other provisions.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called proposals in Arizona – which has proposed banning automatic and same-day voter registration and notarisation for mail-in ballots – “the most despicable thing I’ve seen in all my years.”
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