Senate Republicans–including both Mississippi Senators–blocked Democrats from advancing a revised bill to overhaul federal elections. The Senate voted 49-51 to end debate on whether to bring up the Freedom to Vote Act, falling short of the 60 votes needed.
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U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today released the following statement after opposing a vote to proceed on a sweeping federal voting law package authored by congressional Democrats.
“Today the Senate rejected yet another attempt by national Democrats to execute a federal takeover of local elections on a narrow partisan basis,” Wicker said. “Congress should be working to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat, but this sweeping legislation would have done just the opposite.
“This bill would have overridden broadly popular and effective state election laws, banning states from requiring photo ID to vote and hampering removal of dead voters from voter rolls. Worse, it would have removed nearly every protection on absentee voting, allowed states to divert federal dollars to fund political campaigns, and eroded free speech protections by forcing nonprofits to disclose donors.
“I will continue to fight to protect our election system and preserve the power of state and local governments to run their own elections.”
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U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today once again voted to stop the latest effort by Washington Democrats to federalize voting laws through so-called election reforms.
Hyde-Smith voted against advancing legislation derided as the “Freedom to Cheat Act” (S.2747). It is the third iteration of a partisan-driven effort by congressional Democrats to dictate how states conduct elections. Hyde-Smith rejected the two previous attempts embodied in S.1 and S.2093.
“Here we go again. Like their first two attempts this year, Senate Democrats are making another run at so-called reforms that would be rotten for Mississippi and rotten for the nation,” Hyde-Smith said. “This latest Democrat power grab is dressed up as a ‘compromise,’ but it’s just more of the same bad liberal power grab to skew elections in their favor by imposing federal mandates on every aspect of the electoral process.”
“Protecting the rights of voters and election integrity should be a bipartisan process, not a repeated one-sided Democratic scheme that makes elections less secure,” she said.
S.2747 retains significant portions the two previous failed Democrat plans, including:
- Setting federal voter ID requirements, which would negate Mississippi’s successful voter ID law.
- Forcing federal mandates on absentee and early voting, automatic and same day voter registration, and drop box requirements.
- Establishing 6:1 federal match for public financing of congressional campaigns, in addition to a “Democracy Credit” scheme.
- Threatening First Amendment free speech protections through burdensome disclosure requirements on donors to nonprofit groups.
- Requiring state redistricting effort to adhere to new federal redistricting standards enforced by the U.S. Attorney General.
- Skewing the function of the Federal Election Commission by endowing the FEC General Council with singular investigative and penalty powers.
- Requiring states to allow felon voting in federal elections.
- Establishing a federal holiday for Election Day
