The New Republic: Hope and Despair on Capitol Hill as Democrats’ Voting Reforms Die by Republican Filibuster (and Manchinema)

Democrats’ hopes of passing federal legislation to counter a raft of measures restricting voting rights introduced in Republican-controlled states were dashed against the familiar rocks of Senate procedure on Wednesday. Unable to muster sufficient Republican support, the Senate failed to advance a measure containing two voting rights bills, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. A subsequent attempt to change Senate rules to allow the bills to pass by a simple majority was stymied by opposition from two Democratic senators. …

Both of the voting rights measures had previously been blocked by Republicans last year, but Democrats used a procedural gambit to allow them to be debated for the first time this week. The Freedom to Vote Act addresses elections and campaign finance reform, while the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. Senators from both parties delivered speeches for or against the bills on Wednesday, with most Democrats remaining seated on the Senate floor while their colleagues spoke throughout the day in a rare display of unity. After hours of impassioned remarks, the Senate first held an unsuccessful vote to advance the measure, and then to change the rules to allow for it to pass with a simple majority. …

But despite their support of both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act—Manchin helped to craft the former, and shopped it to Republicans for months in an effort to garner support—the two opposed the rules change that would permit either or both to be enacted.  …

Voting rights advocates insist that Wednesday’s failures are not the end. “We’re not going to give up and take our marbles and go home. We’re going to continue to fight, as we are also fighting at the state level,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause. She said that Common Cause would work to educate voters about their rights, recruiting poll monitors, and support groups that are bringing forward litigation. “There are going to be a lot of fronts to fight this battle at the state level, but in many ways it’s going to be a whack-a-mole,” Flynn said.