On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Democrats plan a motion-to-proceed vote on the so-called “For the People Act,” also known as H.R. 1 and S. 1. The legislation began as a kind of messaging bill a few years ago, but Democrats have talked themselves into treating its passage as utterly essential to the future of American democracy. Such claims are disconnected from the realities of our election system, and are dangerous to the very trust in that system that the bill’s champions claim to want to protect. A Republican filibuster now seems like the only way to avert its enactment, and Republicans should make sure to do just that.
Anytime we talk about election administration now, it is essential to begin from a plain fact that almost no one in either party is willing to acknowledge: Our election system is in very good shape. It is easier for more people to vote than it has pretty much ever been in America, and we have essentially no fraud in our elections. That’s not to say there aren’t problems to be taken up, but they should be dealt with from a position of confidence and trust. The 2020 election was an extraordinary accomplishment for this superb system. It was a close set of elections held under very challenging conditions because of the pandemic, and under assault by a reckless sitting president, and yet our 50 state election systems all functioned quite well, enabling more Americans than ever to vote in more ways than ever, and producing reliable results relatively quickly. We should be very proud of the election administrators and other state and local officials who have made this possible in every state.
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