I thought Abrams would scare the GOP off:
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It isn’t perfect but it works. That’s the only ID used for our 100% vote by mail system in WA. Even when there’s a problem it can be quickly resolved. In the last Dem primary in 2020, my wife got a notice that her signature on the mail-in ballot didn’t match the one on file from 20 years ago when we first moved here. The election board just sent her a form for a new signature, she signed it and mailed it back, and done.
There is a built-in safeguard with VBM systems in having voter registrations linked to current address, so you’ll only be able to correct a signature mismatch if you actually live at the registered address to receive the correction form.
Any other form of ID is unnecessarily complicated, but it will take years to get this changed in the more backward states.
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I’ve been saying for weeks that Manchin would want a voter ID provision to get his support. I think this is a good proposal and it should be passed. The point here is to guarantee EV and to limit the ability of states to restrict voter eligibility and ballot access. This does that.
I also think, based on the Intercept scoop, that we are much closer to an exception to the filibuster to pass S1 than many may think. Manchin is having a hard time defending the filibuster and rather than have a permanent change to the rule to lower the threshold from 60 to 55, the lobbyist groups would much rather, imho, support a one-off exception for voting rights.
In addition, it’s becoming clearer that much of the AFP will be passed through reconciliation, and that it may also include a lowering of medicare eligibility to 60 and immigration reform (including making undocumented folks citizens).
Things are moving in the right direction.
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Joe Manchin announced he's willing to compromise with Republicans on voting rights and McConnell responds by saying he's still opposed to voting rights and "all Republicans will oppose that as well"
— Brad Beauregard Jr 🇺🇸 (@BradBeauregardJ) June 17, 2021
The time has come to #EndTheFilibuster https://t.co/2Gp92E9wil
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Swap out Joe Manchin for Stacey Abrams. Have we tried that?
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Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m just tired of every attempt to remove partisanship ending up gamed by one party or another.
Statewide ranked-choice voting for as many reps as the state population warrants?
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No doubt! When I took a look at his rough proposal yesterday, I was struck by just how reasonable his requests were. Some of them are actually pretty smart politically. If Democrats can include Voter ID and then define acceptable forms of ID, that’s a huge political win that leaves the GOP arguing that an NRA membership card is safer than a college ID. This also gets Democrats out of the game of having to explain why Voter ID was bad, and that’s an argument we weren’t exactly winning with even our own voters.
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On cue, Moscow McConnell plays his Part in this Play.
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Quick response from The Turtle. All Repubs oppose Manchin’s compromise offer.
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Agreed. I was very pleasantly surprised to say the least.
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That to me would appear to be a party’s function - to be partisan. However, banning partisan map drawing addresses that problem.
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If Joe had asked any of us for McConnell’s response, we would have told him. 
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It’s as if Mitch really really wants us to get rid of the filibuster.
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Mitch is certainly making it harder for Manchin and Sinema et al to continue to support the filibuster.
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Agree heartily. Explaining what IS can cut out all the lying, but only if the point is made clear to even the most brainwashed. That mega mountain is always used by human politics to enrich and empower the wealthy and keep the peons slaving away against their own best interests. As you have often said, framing is critical to overcome the inherent us-against-them tribalism.
In this most critical case of the human overpopulation and resource devouring in a limited ecosystem, there is no Planet B as some wise word crafter noticed awhile ago.
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Thanks for that. Mitch is not equivocating! No “maybe’s”, no “we’ll see”, no “possibly”, no nothing.
Passing any legislation offered by Democrats in dealing with voting rights is in NO WAY a benefit to the Republican Party. Someone will have to tell me why it is in their interest to deal with Democrats.
They don’t give a shit about image and know the only way to regain power will be in stealing votes, overturning state elections - even after the outcomes - if they can.
Sure, they’re nuts, but they have openly stated their plans. Stacey Abrams is indeed a miracle worker, but even after taking all the emotion and frustration out of this potential for ‘negotiation’, there’s nothing to be gained for Republicans.
ETA: What am I missing?
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I always thought this was a good way to show the GOP bad faith on the voter ID issue. Democrats propose a law that creates these National Voter ID cards, issued for free to any American upon requests and requires States to accept them for voter ID purposes.
We would get to see Republicans twist themselves in knots arguing against these Voter ID cards.
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I have a feeling McConnell always ended up as Judas in the school Easter play…
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Except Moscow Mitch just made it clear the Reich has no interest in reigning in fascist voter suppression laws. Ball’s back in Manchin’s court…
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