McConnell is showing faux support for a bill that does very little to protect the freedom to vote
End Citizens United // Let America Vote Action Fund President Tiffany Muller released the following statement regarding reports that Republicans might possibly maybe be willing to kind of begin negotiating on the Electoral Count Act:
“Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knows that Democrats have momentum and are getting ready to do whatever it takes to end dark money, stop partisan gerrymandering, protect against election sabotage, and secure the freedom to vote for all Americans. That’s why, as his dark money allies started spending $1 million today to defend gridlock and obstruction of voting rights, he is now, at the last minute, saying he might be open to negotiating on a much more narrow and less meaningful bill. This is a classic McConnell stall tactic.
“We’ve seen this before. Last year, Democrats were told to focus only on restoring the Voting Rights Act for the same reasons, but when the time came, every Republican in both chambers not named Lisa Murkowski opposed it. Republicans’ newfound ‘interest’ in the Electoral Count Act is nothing more than a cynical ploy to keep stalling the passage of real, concrete changes to ensure every American has the freedom to vote and have their vote counted.
“While reforming the Electoral Count Act is important, it is a false choice to pass it instead of legislation to protect voting rights. The Electoral Count Act does nothing to address the dozens of anti-voter restrictions many states put in place in 2021, the efforts to sabotage our elections by removing trusted local officials from their posts, the extreme partisan gerrymandering that denies voters fair and equal representation, and the continued flooding of dark money in our elections.
“We need the Freedom to Vote Act, along with the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to counter the brazen power grab we are seeing from self-serving Republican politicians in states across the country to rig our elections. These bills respond directly to the attacks on our elections happening across the country and the Senate must do whatever it takes–now–to get them signed into law.”
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