Washington Post: “Any truly democratic system should make it as easy as possible to exercise one’s right to vote while maintaining the system’s integrity. H.R. 1 understands that we’ve succeeded remarkably well on the latter count, and focuses instead on the former, by reducing restrictions that have no practical effect except making it more difficult for some Americans to vote. The question is whether there are 50 members of the Senate Democratic caucus who recognize the importance of this remedy. Most otherwise pro-filibuster senators, such as Angus King (I-Maine), realize that ‘all-out opposition to reasonable voting rights protections cannot be enabled by the filibuster.’ But Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) continues to insist that he’ll need bipartisan support before he will back the whole bill, leaving it one vote short.”

“In the short term, other Democrats can still indulge Manchin’s naivete and expand voting rights. While H.R. 1 is up in the air, the Senate is also considering House-passed legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act, which was renewed numerous times on a bipartisan basis until a conservative Supreme Court gutted it in 2013. If, as one suspects, Republicans now declare the Voting Rights Act a partisan horror, perhaps the scales will fall from the West Virginian’s eyes. But in the longer term, Democrats must, perversely, take heart from the size of the GOP’s distortions. That Republicans’ excuses for inaction are (even by GOP standards) so thin shows the scale of the problem; that they are so panicked about H.R. 1 bodes well for its effectiveness when finally passed. The battle for voting rights is long, but it is well worth winning.”