WASHINGTON — When the Supreme Court threw out a key portion of the Voting Rights Act two years ago, it told Congress to fix it. Congress hasn’t, failing to take up even bipartisan proposals.
“In an effort to limit the pool of potential voters, nefarious forces have sought to make it more difficult to get registered to vote, prevent or decrease early voting, and increase bureaucratic hurdles to limit participation at the ballot box,” Schumer added, referring to a growing push by Republican-led legislatures to make voting more difficult by passing identification laws and shrinking pre-election voting opportunities.
But two versions of bills have never gotten hearings, let alone a vote, from Republican leaders. Schumer’s measures wouldn’t plug that Supreme Court hole, but they could make it less important by giving voters easier ways to vote than going to polling places on a specific Tuesday.