Sen. Roy Blunt praises failure of new Voting Rights Act, says 2020 election was not 'rigged'

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Speaking at the Greene County Clerk's office, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt celebrated the failure of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act as a win for local election administrators.

"I continue to believe the original decision in the Constitution that elections should be left generally to state and local officials. It has served the country pretty well," Blunt said standing next to Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller.

"When something happens in one of our counties the night before the election and something needs to be changed, nobody is more likely to get that done in the most common-sense way than the local election officials who we have asked to be responsive and responsible and understands what the community is all about."

Among other changes, the package of election reforms pushed by Democrats in Congress would have made Election Day a national holiday, ensured access to early voting and mail-in ballots and allowed federal intervention in states with a history of voter suppression.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt speaks at the Greene County Clerk's office during a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
U.S. Senator Roy Blunt speaks at the Greene County Clerk's office during a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.

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According to Blunt, those changes would amount to a federal takeover of elections and not a continuation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

"I was glad to see our colleagues decide not to go forward with that Voting Rights Act. I've voted for it before and I'd be glad to vote for it again if we could extend the Voting Rights Act," he said. "Next week, I'll be voting to extend the original Voting Rights Act, which was 12 pages. The John Lewis Voting Rights bill was 750 pages. So this idea that somehow people who didn't vote for a federal takeover of elections were opposed to the Voting Rights Act, or opposed to my friend John Lewis — that's clearly not the case."

Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller takes questions at a press conference with U.S. Senator Roy Blunt on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller takes questions at a press conference with U.S. Senator Roy Blunt on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.

Schoeller echoed these comments, saying that bill had little input from local election officials like him.

"There's been very little input from local election officials across the nation. And this has been a bipartisan concern by local election officials in various states," Schoeller said. "If Washington wants to make changes, they need to get back and talk to the people, especially the people who administer those elections, so that they can have the best input on what's gonna work best."

Even though there is Democratic control of all levels of the federal government, the bill failed in the Senate last week after the majority party failed to eliminate the filibuster, a rule requiring most bills to reach 60 votes before passage.

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According to Blunt, keeping the Senate filibuster was a "good decision" by his colleagues — saying Republicans would keep the rule if they regain control of the Senate in 2022 or 2024.

"Under President Trump, the White House called us to eliminate that rule 34 times. If you need any verification that Republicans believe in the filibuster... when we had a president who was constantly saying you need to change the rules and eliminate that 60 vote threshold, we didn't do that."

In his quest to replace Blunt in the Senate, U.S. Rep. Billy Long recently released an ad claiming Democrats "rigged" the 2020 election. Former Governor Eric Greitens has made much of his Senate campaign based on the false belief Democrats "stole" the 2020 election.

Asked about these claims, Blunt said the 2020 election was not rigged by Democrats or anyone else.

"I didn't think the election was rigged. And I still don't think it's rigged. But lots of people have that view. It's a view I've never agreed with," he said.

Schoeller said there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Greene County since he's been in office — only citing an example in 2015 when a Greene County resident attempted to vote twice.

"As far as we know (fraud) does not happen often," he said.

However, Schoeller criticized a "lack of communication" in some election officials across the country that could have given the appearance of wrongdoing even if none existed.

"I do think that there were things that happened — communication by election officials in other states in 2020 — that added to that problem. There was, for example, blocking where people couldn't see or putting people 30 feet away. We can't do that. We have to be transparent. We cannot do things that would give people suspicion that there is an issue."

Asked if there were any changes to the election system state legislators should make before the 2022 election, Schoeller pointed to several reforms. He supports strengthening voter ID requirements, which he hopes will make the jobs of local election workers easier. He also wants the legislature to allow no-excuse absentee voting for future elections, which is currently not allowed in Missouri.

"We see the common sense of allowing people to vote without a reason prior to the day of the election..." he said. "I'm a Republican, so I don't necessarily like the government knowing what I'm doing."

Asked the same question, Blunt said he would defer to the legislature on any reforms they might propose, but said any election bill passed in Missouri should have "bipartisan buy-in."

Open Supreme Court seat

On Thursday liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the bench, paving the way to a Senate confirmation of a new justice.

Though justices were historically appointed with little dissent, approval to the high court has become highly partisan in recent years. Asked if he could support a candidate President Joe Biden nominates, Blunt said he can only support a nominee if they believe in the constitution "as it was written."

"We'll see what kind of nominee we get. I'd certainly love to vote for a black woman in the Senate, which is what the President has said he would do. But I want to vote for somebody who looks at the constitution and determines 'this is what the constitution says' not 'what I think the constitution should say.'"

That critique comes from many liberal justices' belief the constitution should be interpreted as a "living document."

Blunt said he expects the Senate to take up the confirmation process sometime this summer. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently suggested the process could happen much quicker — akin to the 45 day timeline of Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Blunt suggested such an accelerated timeline could be good for the country.

"If they do that, not much else will happen during that 45 days and frankly with this majority not much happening is, in my view, the better of the likely outcomes."

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Blunt, Schoeller praise Voting Rights Act failure, urge local input