Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is blasting Democrats’ sweeping voting rights bill, the For the People Act, which he says is a “power grab.”
During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Graham said, “In my view, SR1 is the biggest power grab in the history of the country.”
“It mandates ballot harvesting, no voter ID, it does away with the states being able to redistrict when you have population shifts. It’s just a bad idea,” he continued.
Finally, he said, “States are in charge of voting in America so I don’t like the idea of taking the power to redistrict away from state legislators. You have people moving from blue states to red states. Under this proposal you would have some kind of commission redraw the new districts and I don’t like that. I want states where people are moving to have control over how to allocate new congressional seats. So as much as I like Joe Manchin, the answer would be no.”
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According to the Brennan Center, the For the People Act would “make it easier to vote in federal elections, end congressional gerrymandering, overhaul federal campaign finance laws, increase safeguards against foreign interference, strengthen government ethics rules, and more.”
It would make states that require voter identification to allow people who do not have a form of ID to cast their ballot if they have a “sworn written statement attesting to their identity.”
The bill has run into a roadblock in the Senate as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has said he would oppose the legislation citing the lack of Republican support for it.
However, last week, he unveiled a compromise that he said he could support.
Manchin’s proposal includes making Election Day a public holiday, providing 15 consecutive days of early voting, and automatic voter registration. Additionally, the lawmaker said he would back requiring voter identification but added that he would support letting voters use alternative forms of identification such as a utility bill.
However, Graham told Fox News he would not support that bill either.