U.S. Senate set to hold test vote Wednesday on election reforms
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[October 19, 2021]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S.
Senate is likely to take a procedural vote on Wednesday on whether to
debate an overhaul of federal election law, Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer said on Monday as he urged Republicans not to block the measure.
"If there's anything worthy of debate in this chamber, it should be
protecting and strengthening our democracy," Schumer, a Democrat, said
of the bill to expand voters' access to mail-in ballots and other steps.
If Republicans prevent debate on the bill, some Democrats are likely to
urge Schumer to find a way around the Senate's filibuster procedure that
requires at least 60 votes in the evenly split, 100-member chamber for
most legislation to advance.
Such ideas include exempting the measure from the filibuster. Others
include requiring that senators stay in the chamber and talk until the
filibuster is abandoned - the way it used to be done.
The bill is in response to voting restrictions passed in Republican-led
states following former President Donald Trump's repeated false claims
he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden because of widespread
electoral fraud.
His claims were rejected by multiple courts, state election officials
and Trump's own Justice Department.
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![](../images/101921pix/news_L23.jpg)
A 'vote here' sign is seen outside a voting station on the day of
the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Arlington, Virginia, U.S.,
November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Since late last year, a number of
Republican-controlled states have enacted or advanced bills to
tighten access to the polls and make it easier to challenge election
results.
Democrats and voting rights advocates have denounced the measures as
partisan power grabs that will make it harder for Black and Hispanic
voters - important voting blocs for Democrats - to cast ballots.
Election experts have said voting fraud is rare in the United
States.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter
Cooney)
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