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Manchin’s compromise completely undercuts Republicans’ case for blocking reform.
It does this by including new requirements to safeguard election security, which is — or was — the top priority of Republicans concerned by “questions” the 2020 election supposedly raised.
For instance, Manchin’s proposal includes a nationwide voter ID requirement, with a relatively broad range of documents allowed (such as utility bills). His framework also allows states to conduct purges of their voter rolls “by utilizing information derived from state and federal documents.”
Manchin also conspicuously omitted Democratic initiatives that Republicans claim (without evidence) lead to voter fraud, such as mandatory same-day voter registration, stand-alone drop boxes and no-excuse absentee voting.
Democrats didn’t love these choices, but key party leaders endorsed Manchin’s framework as a useful compromise all the same.
Republicans, on the other hand, rejected the framework. Immediately, forcefully, unambiguously.
“It needs to be blocked,” remarked Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who a week earlier praised Manchin as “saving our country” by encouraging bipartisanship.
The response from the left seems to be that this whole endeavor proves Manchin to be the guileless chump they always suspected he was. He gave Republicans what they said they wanted, and they still rejected his offer out of hand! To which my response is: Yes, he did. But focus on what that says about Republicans.
By ceding ground on “election security” and effectively taking the issue off the table, Manchin just proved Republicans never actually cared about election security. Not election security in the past — i.e., the 2020 presidential election they pretend was “stolen” — and not at some hypothetical point in the future. Their goal was always to use gerrymandering and voter suppression just to make it harder for Democrats to win elections.
Hopefully Manchin figures out that the Republicans are just out to win elections using any excuse they can. They know that they are becoming a minority party and are trying to hold onto power any way they can. Personally though, I don't think this goes far enough as it doesn't really target the suppression efforts we have seen, such as closing voting venues, restricting hours, allowing legislatures to ignore local election officials, etc.