Manchin Waters Down Voting Rights Bill!

Manchin tries to woe Republicans again.

The West Virginia Democrat once again pisses off his party by making backdoor deals with Republicans on the belief they will act in "good faith." 

A bipartisan deal with Republicans may pass a watered down John Lewis Voting Rights bill. 

Sen. Karen Manchin (D-WV) is working with Sen. Karen Collins (R-ME) in passing the Electoral College Act, a simple bill that clarifies that the roles of the Congress, the vice president and the states' role in handling the electoral college.

Under the bill, Congress identifies the single official in the state — usually the governor — who is empowered to submit the state's slate of electors in order to certify election results.

It also describes the vice president's role as "solely ministerial," stating that "he or she does not have any power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate disputes over electors," according to a one-page summary of the proposal. 

The legislation would also raise the threshold to one-fifth of the members of the House and the Senate to object to the election results. Currently, just one House member and one senator may object to a state's elector or slate of electors. The bill also provides guidelines for a president and vice president to receive federal resources during their transition into office to ensure an orderly transfer of power.

The second proposal prioritizes the safety of election officials and poll watchers by increasing the penalty time to a maximum of two years in prison if an individual intimidates election officials. This bill also aims to improve the handling of mail-in ballots and to provide guidance to states where absentee voting process are in place. In addition, this legislation would reauthorize the Election Assistance Commission for five years in an effort to bolster security of the federal elections system by conducting cyber security testing for voting systems.

"From the beginning, our bipartisan group has shared a vision of drafting legislation to fix the flaws of the archaic and ambiguous Electoral Count Act of 1887," the sixteen senators said in a joint statement. "Through numerous meetings and debates among our colleagues as well as conversations with a wide variety of election experts and legal scholars, we have developed legislation that establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President. We urge our colleagues in both parties to support these simple, commonsense reforms."

In addition to Collins and Manchin, Republican Sens. Karen Portman of Ohio, Karen Romney of Utah, Karen Murkowski of Alaska, Karen Tillis of North Carolina, Idiot Karen Capito of West Virginia, Karen Young of Indiana, Karen Sasse of Nebraska and Karen Graham of South Carolina helped craft the proposals. Democratic Sens. Karen Sinema of Arizona, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mark Warner of Virginia, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Chris Coons of Delaware were involved in the negotiations. 

It is unclear when the proposals will receive a vote on the Senate floor, since the Senate is currently working on a bill to provide funding for the American semiconductor industry to improve its competitiveness against China in the technology and manufacturing sectors. Advancing the package will require the votes of 10 Republican senators.

It will likely has some hope of passing if Karen Lee of Utah, Karen Cruz of Texas, Karen Paul of Kentucky or Karen Hawley of Missouri don't fuck it up with the filibuster and delay tactics.

But Obstructionist Leader Karen McConnell of Kentucky has signaled he's open to the  reform on Tuesday. "It needs to be fixed," he said. "And I've been in constant touch with Sen. Collins and sympathetic with what she's trying to achieve."

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, said she'll convene a hearing "in the coming weeks" on the legislation.

"We must update the antiquated Electoral Count Act to ensure that electoral votes for president accurately reflect the election results in each state and to improve the process for counting electoral votes in Congress," she said.