House Dems ready major voting rights, ethics bill

(3 Mar 2021) House Democrats are poised to pass a sweeping elections and ethics bill, offering it up as a powerful counterweight to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country.    House Resolution 1, which touches on virtually every aspect of the electoral process, would restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a murky campaign finance system that allows wealthy donors to anonymously bankroll political causes.    To Republicans, though, it would herald a massive expansion of the federal government's role in elections, infringing on states that limit ballot access in the name of election security.    The measure, which was all but certain to pass the House in a vote expected Wednesday, has been a priority for Democrats since they won their majority in 2018. But it has taken on added urgency in the wake of Donald Trump’s repeated false claims of a stolen 2020 election. H.R. 1 would require states to automatically register eligible voters and offer same-day registration. It would limit states' ability to purge registered voters from their rolls and mandate the restoration of former felons' voting rights in states where they aren't allowed to vote. Among dozens of other provisions, it would also require states to offer 15 days of early voting and allow no-excuse absentee balloting.    On the cusp of a once-in-a-decade redrawing of congressional district boundaries, typically a fiercely partisan affair, the bill would mandate that nonpartisan commissions handle the process instead of state legislatures. Still, the biggest obstacles lie ahead in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...