Jane C. Timm
September 23, 2021
(NBC News) – The progressive group End Citizens United and Let America Vote Action Fund will spend $5.8 million to promote Democrats’ voting rights compromise bill with television, mail and digital advertisements in five states.
A group of Democratic senators, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia, introduced a bill last week called the Freedom to Vote Act, a pared–down version of the sweeping legislation Democrats sought to pass earlier this year.
The bill’s fate is uncertain in a busy Congress: Republicans have opposed Democratic-advanced voting legislation, and some Democrats have been unwilling to amend filibuster rules to pass the legislation through the Senate without Republican support.
The advertisements, which start Thursday in West Virginia, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire, seek to keep the pressure on Democratic senators to pass the measure, said Adam Bozzi, the group’s executive vice president for communications.
“We’re at a point where we’ve got all 50 Democrats on a bill, and we need them to do whatever it takes to get this bill passed,” he said.
The legislation would make Election Day a public holiday, require that same-day registration be offered at all polling locations by 2024 and mandate at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections, among other provisions.