by Charles Young SENIOR STAFF WRITER Jun 17, 2021
WASHINGTON (WV News) — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is continuing to voice her opposition to Senate Bill 1, also known as the For the People Act of 2021.
The bill, which passed the House of Representatives on March 3 by a 220-to-210 vote, is expected to be taken up by the Senate next week, Capito said Thursday during a virtual press conference from her Capitol Hill office.
According to a description of the For the People Act, written by the bill’s original sponsor, the purpose of the legislation is to “expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy, and for other purposes.”
However, Capito and other opponents have said the bill is unnecessary, would complicate West Virginia’s election system and could create opportunities for voter fraud that don’t currently exist.
“In my view, what it is is a giant power grab by the Democrats to change the methods and the methodologies how we conduct our elections,” she said. “In 2020, we had way more people in West Virginia vote — and also in this country — under difficult circumstances. We had a pandemic and yet each state figured out a way, as West Virginia did, to increase the availably of options to voters that are suitable to their state.”
The bill contains several elements she finds “egregious,” Capito said. These include eliminating voter ID laws, eliminating mobile voting options and creating a public financing system for congressional elections.
“It’s all being done under the auspices of states passing laws that are narrowing the focus of being able to vote,” she said. “I will oppose this.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has been at the center of the political conversation surrounding the For the People Act as the only Senate Democrats not backing the legislation.
Manchin’s office recently circulated a memo outlining several revisions he would like to see made to the bill in order to gain his support, including a voter ID requirement and giving local officials the ability to purge voter roles.
She has not yet thoroughly reviewed Manchin’s memo, Capito said.
“In terms of Sen. Manchin’s list, I looked through them. I still think there’s enormous problems with what he’s proposing,” she said. “I can’t get specific because I haven’t had time to analyze it, I just think that this, again, is a partisan overreach.”
West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, along with 54 of the state’s 55 county clerks, have also stated their opposition to the For the People Act.
Warner, the state’s chief elections officer, recently told WV News the bill would “complicate” the jobs of the state’s county clerks.
“It would get rid of all the current voting equipment. They would have to start over with getting new equipment and training people and so forth,” Warner said. “It would require same-day registration, meaning that you could go and register and vote on the same day on election. I don’t want to say it’s an impossibility in West Virginia, but it’s impossible to verify that someone isn’t voting in one place and then going and doing it in another.”