Stacey Abrams & Beto O’Roarke Voice Support For Joe Manchin’s Voting Rights Compromise

When Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) came out against the For The People Act earlier in June, he came under attack from many of his Democratic colleagues. Last week, he decided to release a lengthy list of voting reforms that he says he would support, and so far, progressives like Stacey Abrams and Beto O’Roarke are lining up to endorse his plan.

Manchin’s proposal consists of some items from the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

He revealed that his top priority is to ban partisan gerrymandering and establish a nationwide voter ID law so that illegitimate voters could also be purged with a search through state and federal documents. Some voting advocates argue that this might hurt low-income voters and students who might not have voter IDs.

He also proposes that presidents and vice presidents release their taxes and that there be greater campaign finance disclosures.

Manchin also supports the Disclose Act, which requires certain groups to disclose election-related spending, and the Honest Ads Act, which issues disclosure requirements for online ads.

In terms of the John Lewis Voting Act, Manchin hoped to rework it earlier this month by extending its preclearance provision to all 50 states. The provision is supposed to block any new election rule enacted by a state or local government that has a history of racist election practices. The Shelby County v. Holder case in 2013 voided the provision.

Manchin now seems to endorse most of the John Lewis Voting Act and wants to extend the preclearance to jurisdictions that have made 15 or more voting rights violations during the last 25 years or on jurisdictions that have committed 10 violations, at least one of which has been committed by the state.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly dismissed Manchin’s compromise as “the Stacey Abrams bill.”