University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban and NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West have signed an open letter to U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin urging the moderate West Virginia Democrat to support a federal overhaul of U.S. elections to "secure our democracy."
In the letter, Saban, West, and three other prominent West Virginia sports figures — former West Virginia University athletic director and NFL Houston Oilers player Oliver Luck, former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and former Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley — called on Congress to "exercise its Constitutional responsibility to enact laws that set national standards for the conduct of Federal elections and for decisions that determine election outcomes.”
They are asking Manchin to support the Freedom to Vote Act, a bill introduced by Democrats that would set federal standards for U.S. elections. In addition to expanding early voting and mail-in voting, the bill would undermine Republican supported voter ID laws, limit the ability of states to remove inactive or dead voters from voter rolls, make Election Day a federal holiday, and more.
Democrats lack the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster by Republicans, who are uniformly opposed to a federal overhaul of elections. And Manchin, along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and at least three other Democrats are opposed to carving out a filibuster exception or getting rid of the filibuster altogether to pass the bill, preventing the 50-50 Democratic majority from taking action on election reforms.
But Saban and the other sports icons insist that Manchin change his position, expressing their support for the Democrats' bill:
Elections open to all Americans: Our democracy is at its best when all Americans are encouraged to participate. We support measures to provide voters with a range of opportunities to obtain and cast a lawful ballot, including robust in-person, early, and absentee voting options. We support the use of election security, equipment and record-keeping measures that are reliable and evidence-based, and clearly support the integrity of election processes.
Impartial conduct and score-keeping. Election administration and vote certification must be nonpartisan, professional and transparent. State legislators and other officials cannot apply or change rules, standards or procedures, prospectively or retroactively, in a manner that may nullify Federal election results by excluding voters or overruling voter choices.
The letter claims "these principles are now under intentional and unprecedented challenge" from state laws supported by Republicans that have strengthened voter ID laws and tightened rules around absentee and mail-in ballots after the COVID-19 pandemic. Saban and the others accuse Republicans of attempting to "secure partisan advantage by eliminating reliable practices with proven safeguards and substituting practices ripe for manipulation."
It's a rare display of political partisanship from the Alabama coach.
Although Saban, a native of Fairmont, West Virginia, is a longtime friend and supporter of Manchin, he insisted to reporters in 2020 that he had no desire to be involved with politics or endorse candidates.
"I've never endorsed a candidate, nor will I ever endorse a candidate or get involved in politics in any way, shape or form. I don't think that's my place," he said at the time.
Contrary to that statement, he endorsed Manchin for re-election in 2018, saying he never knew a better friend or person than the senator.
President Joe Biden said Thursday he would be open to ending the Senate filibuster to ram through a sweeping federal overhaul of U.S. elections and other parts of his agenda, but added that pushing to end the filibuster now would kill any chance of passing his economic agenda.
During CNN's Thursday night town hall, Anderson Cooper asked the president: "When it comes to voting rights, just so I'm clear, though, you would entertain the notion of doing away with the filibuster on that one issue, is that correct?"
"And maybe more," Biden said.
COOPER: "When it comes to voting rights, you would entertain the notion of doing away with the filibuster on that o… https://t.co/15S2RXpvtm
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) 1634865040.0
The president cautioned that pushing to end the filibuster now would endanger his "Build Back Better" agenda by angering moderate Democrats, whose votes are needed to pass a multitrillion spending proposal currently being negotiated in the Senate.
BIden said that if he demands an end to the filibuster, "I lose at least three votes right now to get what I have to get done on the economic side of the equation, the foreign policy side of the equation."
Moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten SInema (D-Ariz.) are both publicly opposed to changing or making exemptions to the filibuster, which creates a 60-vote requirement in the Senate to advance legislation. A Senate majority is needed to change the body's parliamentary procedure, so assuming no Republicans in the 50-50 Senate vote to end the filibuster, every Democratic vote is needed to change the rules.
Despite their opposition, Biden said: "We're going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster."
He added it "remains to be seen exactly what that means in terms of fundamentally — on whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up."
The president predicted that if Republicans repeat their attempt to filibuster a debt limit increase in December, when the federal government will reach its $28.8 trillion cap on borrowing, fed-up Democrats will change the rules and prevent debt limit increases, and possibly more, from being filibustered.
"The idea that, for example, my Republican friends say that we're going to default on the national debt because they're going to filibuster that and we need 10 Republicans to support us is the most bizarre thing I ever heard," Biden said.
"I think you're going to see — if it gets pulled again — you'll see an awful lot of Democrats being ready to say, 'not me. I'm not doing that again. We're going to end the filibuster.' But it still is difficult to end the filibuster beyond that," he added.
Controversial ex-ESPN anchor Jemele Hill called Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin a "cowardly, power-hungry white dude" on Sunday after the lawmaker voiced opposition to a sweeping and partisan federal election reform bill, effectively killing the legislation.
The sports commentator, who now hosts the podcast "Jemele Hill is Unbothered," also characterized Manchin's decision to vote against the bill, called the "For the People Act," as a clear example of "white supremacy."
The Biden administration had argued the legislation — which aimed to make permanent the previous election's pandemic-related relaxed voting measures — was "urgently needed to protect the right to vote and the integrity of our elections, and to repair and strengthen American democracy."
But Manchin disagreed, arguing in an op-ed published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Sunday that the proposed election law overhaul "won't instill confidence in our democracy," but "destroy it."
"The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen," Manchin wrote.
Manchin's opposition sparked immediate backlash from progressive critics on social media, one of whom was Hill, who tweeted: "Record number of black voters show up to save this democracy, only for white supremacy to be upheld by a cowardly, power-hungry white dude. [Manchin] is a clown."
This is so on brand for this country. Record number of black voters show up to save this democracy, only for white… https://t.co/3dAEVA6doU
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) 1622993802.0
In the op-ed, Manchin also signaled his opposition to ending the filibuster, a parliamentary rule established in the 1800s that requires 60 votes for some legislation to pass in the Senate, further angering progressives. Democrats have sought to end the filibuster — despite using it themselves — by labeling it as a relic of racism.
Others joined Hill in labeling the moderate senator's opposition to the bill as white supremacist.
"Manchin's op-ed might as well be titled, 'Why I'll vote to preserve Jim Crow,'" Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones (N.Y.) alleged.
Another critic said: "White supremacy is Joe Manchin choosing to help voter suppression efforts because he'd lose his power in West Virginia if he chooses the side of black and brown voters who have all been showing up to the polls to help save our democracy."
Hill is known for having made controversial, racially charged statements in the past. Last July, she declared all Donald Trump voters "racist," arguing there's "no wiggle room." Though, interestingly enough, her mother voted for Trump in 2016.
Then in August, she sparked outrage after tweeting that the United States is "nearly as bad as Nazi Germany."
Maine voters voted down a proposition that would have required voters to present photo identification in order to vote. According to the New York Times, the proposed requirement is projected to fail, with 63.4 percent of voters voting against the measure, only 36.6 percent voting in favor, and 78 percent of the votes recorded at […]
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