Making it easier to vote is a Democratic 'power grab,' GOP leader McConnell sneers

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell really doesn’t like efforts to make voting easier. As House Democrats push massive government reform and protection of voting rights, McConnell is outraged, describing it as a “power grab.” Because power is all McConnell knows or cares about, and because the idea of making it easier to vote threatens all he holds dear.

On Wednesday, McConnell took to the Senate floor to mock, in his usual contemptuously disbelieving tones, the very idea of making Election Day a holiday for federal workers and giving them paid leave to serve as poll workers. “Just what America needs, another paid holiday, and a bunch of government workers being paid to go out and work, I assume, our folks, our colleagues on the other side on their campaigns.” Instead of assuming, McConnell could have easily read that section of the bill, which is explicitly about “provid[ing] election administration assistance,” i.e. helping voters vote in a completely nonpartisan fashion and making lines move more quickly.

“This is the Democrat plan to restore democracy,” McConnell sneered. Well, you gobshite, it’s a very small part intended to 1.) make it easier for federal workers to cast their ballots and 2.) allow federal workers to help smooth the entire voting process for everyone else in their communities. Only someone terrified of democracy would see this as a dangerous or frightening idea.