Freedom to Vote Act

The Freedom to Vote Act was introduced in the US Senate on September 14th and is the most recent voting rights bill proposed by Democrats. Manchin’s unwillingness to override the filibuster has prevented the passage of previous bills. However, Manchin was involved in writing this bill and is a co-sponsor.

The bill has three major sections:

Voter Access and Election Administration, Election Integrity, and Civic Participation and Empowerment. It is 592 pages long and does not go as far as previous bills, but it is our best shot at passing federal voting rights protections, and it is necessary we pass this bill.

Let’s get into what exactly it will do by section.

Voter Access and Election Administration:

• Changes voter registration from an opt-in to an opt-out system. All eligible to vote who have contact with government agencies like the DMV, a public university, or social service agency are automatically registered unless they opt-out
• All states must offer online voter registration. Voters can also change their voter registration online
• Election Day will become a federal holiday
• Requires at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections, including two weekends
• States must provide same-day voter registration, so any eligible person who shows up at the polls can vote
• Establishes nationwide right to vote by mail. Forbids requiring notarization or witnesses to vote by mail. Ballots cast by-election day must be counted if received up to 7 days after the election. Creates a free postage system for returned ballots. Ballots rejected due to signature omission or mismatch must be notified and given an easy way to fix.
• Creates minimum standards for dropboxes to return mail ballots
• Puts a 30 minute limit of wait-times for in-person voting
• Requires polling locations on college campuses
• Prevents banning giving food and water to voters
• Strengthen voter list maintenance standards by prohibiting the use of returned mail sent by third parties to remove voters, a process known as voter caging. Those who will be removed must receive written notification and be given the opportunity to fix it
• States must count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct as long as they were cast in the right county
• Allows states to require voter ID for in-person voting but expands the forms of ID to include utility bills and leases, student IDs, and almost all forms of ID given by a governmental entity
• Restores the right to vote to those formerly incarcerated once they have served their time for felony convictions and are released from prison. States must provide written notification to individuals when their voting rights are restored.

Election Integrity

• Creates federal protections to insulate non-partisan state and local officials who administer elections from partisan influence
• Protect election records, election infrastructure, and ballot tabulation
• Require states to use paper ballots that can be verified by voters
• Implement reliable post-election audits
• Provide grants to states to purchase more secure voting systems and cybersecurity improvements
• The Election Assistance Commission will develop model training programs to recruit new election workers that are non-partisan. Grants will be provided for this training
• Create election vendor cybersecurity standards
• Federal campaigns must disclose certain foreign contacts, reducing foreign election interference

Civic Participation and Empowerment

• Reforms the redistricting process and bans partisan gerrymandering. It creates better judicial remedies and ensures a non-partisan redistricting process but allows states to decide specifics of the process.
• Requires super PACs, 501(c)4 groups, and other organizations spending money in elections to disclose their donors.
• Shuts down transfers between organizations to hide the identity of donors
• Holds online political ads to the same transparency and disclosure requirements as ads on TV, radio, and satellite
• Creates the State Elections Assistance and Innovation fund, a self-sustaining fund to finance investments in election infrastructure. It is funded through an additional assessment paid on federal fines, penalties, and settlements for certain tax crimes and corporate malfeasance
• The Federal Election Commission is given better ability to carry out oversight and enforcement of election law
• Creates a “coordinated spender” category to ensure that single-candidate super PACs do not operate as an arm of campaigns

The Freedom to Vote Act would roll back the new anti-voter laws in red states, giving Democrats a chance at big wins in the midterms. It would also allow for almost all voting rights cases to be filed in the US District Court for DC, creating a national, uniform, pro-democracy jurisprudence. In addition, it restricts who can serve as poll observers and says they cannot be within 8 feet of voters. It also protects election workers from harassment and intimidation and makes it harder to fire them for improper reasons.

It creates a “right to vote” in federal elections and guarantees it. It prohibits states from enacting laws or policies that are “retrogressive,” meaning they make voting harder. Significant state restrictions will be subject to heightened judicial scrutiny.

This bill is our last chance at passing voting rights protections. McConnell has pledged that no Republicans will vote for it, so we must override the filibuster. This bill could change the path of the Biden presidency by making big wins in the midterms possible, meaning Democrats could pass so much more of our agenda.

But first, we must get this bill through Congress. So keep the pressure on your Senators to move this bill forward.

Rideshare2Vote at its heart works to increase voter participation, something this bill would guarantee. It would make voting easier across the country for millions of Americans, and that is something we would love to see. So let’s make this happen and help strengthen our democracy.

by Betsy Zalinski