House Dems Look for 'Power Grab' with H.R. 1 Effort to Overhaul Voting, Elections

Once a year, dignitaries gather in Selma, Alabama for the annual commemoration of 1965’s “Bloody Sunday” Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing. During election cycles, many of those dignitaries are Democratic Party politicians, and even some seeking the highest office in the land, the United States presidency. Last Sunday’s march was such an occasion. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) participated in the event, all of which have dabbled in the arena of presidential politics. If there was a takeaway from the occasion, Democrats are looking to make voter suppression and voting rights one of the main issues of the campaign. “[T]here is no more fundamental right than the right to vote,” Clinton said to Selma marchers last Sunday. “It is under attack. It is under fire. It has got to be protected. No matter what else you care about, there is nothing more important than standing up and fighting for the right to vote right now.” It is also on the agenda of this Democrat-controlled Congress. Right out of the gate, Democrats filed H.R. 1, titled as the For the People Act of 2019. The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD),