New England prides itself as the birthplace of American liberty. Right now, after an unprecedented attack on a free election by a sitting president, we face an ongoing constitutional crisis threatening fundamental pillars of that liberty: voting and the protection of election results.
This year has brought a spree of restrictive voting laws and rules at the state level placing the administration of elections into the hands of partisan actors. It ends amid a continual stream of new information about efforts to circumvent the 2020 election results on and before Jan. 6. It’s more urgent than ever that Congress pass national voting rights legislation to protect voting rights and the integrity of the electoral process.
You’d think the entire delegation of US senators from New England would be in lockstep in their determination to protect the ballot and the democracy that it serves, and not let a Senate rule serve as an obstacle to that task.
They are not, and that must change, now. The filibuster is an archaic Senate tradition that, by making it impossible to end debate and move to a final up-or-down vote, effectively prevents the body from moving forward with legislation to shield voting rights from state-level attacks. Every elected senator from our region must clearly and unequivocally state their support for ending the use of the filibuster to block national voting rights legislation.
So far, only five of the 12 have been so clear.
“The need to protect the vote is one of the sharpest examples of why we need to get rid of the filibuster,” Senator Elizabeth Warren told the Globe editorial board. “Republicans have decided that the only way they can win is by rigging the system to keep an extremist minority in power, regardless of what voters want.”
Fellow Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut support ending the filibuster altogether. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut backs ending the filibuster for voting and election bills.
On the other end of the spectrum is Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins. Collins touts herself in press releases as a champion of bipartisanship, yet she joined an all-GOP effort to block debate on legislation to shore up basic voting protections. That bill, which would have helped prevent state and local efforts to roll back online registration, early voting, counting of provisional ballots, and other measures, was cosponsored by West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin in an express effort to gain bipartisan support. But Collins couldn’t even be counted on for that.
The other six members of the delegation fall somewhere in the middle. Discerning exactly where each stands is not an easy task, even when they are asked directly.
“I want to negotiate a compromise, first and foremost,” said Senator Angus King, a Maine independent, in a recent Boston Globe op-ed piece. “But absent that, I am open to pursuing structural reforms to the Senate in order to turn these priorities into law and to defend ballot access for all of our citizens.”
King rightfully warned that our democracy is in danger but failed to include an unambiguous demand to nix the Senate procedural maneuver that prevents him and other members of the Democratic caucus, which holds a razor-thin majority, from doing anything about it.
Similarly, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, has called for looking at “ways to reform the filibuster.” But, she told CNN, “I don’t think getting rid of it is the best approach.”
Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire’s junior senator, has said she is open to discussing reforms such as the “talking filibuster,” which would require a marathon floor speech to stop a bill from advancing. But Republicans have carried out that feat before.
A spokesman for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said the senator would prefer if Republicans worked with Democrats, but if necessary, he “will likely support whatever reform proposal the Senate Democratic caucus can agree to.”
Much has been made of Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s support for preserving the Senate’s rule requiring 60 votes to advance a bill to a vote, and their now-repeatedly-disproved claim that it fosters bipartisanship. But the reluctance of other Democrats to vocally call for an end to the filibuster rule is what has allowed Manchin and Sinema to dig in. Meanwhile, Republicans — with the occasional exception of Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have used the filibuster against voting rights at every turn.
The ability to be flexible and seek compromise is normally an important virtue in Congress. But compromise isn’t possible here — Republicans have made that clear.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, pointing out that the 14th and 15th Amendments protecting civil and voting rights were passed along party lines, is right: Protecting liberty is patriotic, not partisan — even if done on a party-line vote. Every member of the New England delegation must echo that sentiment, loudly and clearly. Democracy depends on it.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us on Twitter at @GlobeOpinion.
