How Will the New Senate Vote on D.C. Voting Rights?
When a measure that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives fell three votes short of making it through the Senate, voting rights advocates were both frustrated and hopeful. Frustrated because the Senate's arcane rules of procedure allowed three senators to hold up legislation that had overwhelmingly passed the House; hopeful because whether through intense cajoling or electoral victories, three new votes aren't impossible to come by.
With the recent Democratic gains in the Senate, will we be able to get those three last votes we need to pass the legislation and finally gain a voting seat in the House? It looks like it.
The Democrats picked up five new seats: Mark Udall in Colorado, Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, Tom Udall in New Mexico, Kay Hagan in North Carolina and Mark Warner in Virginia. Assuming they stick to the party line, that's a net gain of five votes. News today finds that Oregon's Gordon Smith has conceded to his Democratic challenger, so that's one more vote for the cause -- six in all.
Photo by fiction-parade
Joe Biden and Barack Obama will be replaced by Democrats, so we'll hold steady there. Whether or not Minnesota's Norm Coleman beats challenger Al Franken is irrelevant to the final tally; Coleman voted for the legislation.
The unknowns are Alaska and Georgia. In Alaska, a Ted Stevens victory and eventual resignation/expulsion would keep the seat in Republican hands and likely a "No" vote. For Georgia, a likely runoff might see Democrat Jim Martin defeat incumbent Saxby Chambliss. If that's the case, one more for us; if not, an unchanged vote against.
If the same number of Republicans that supported the legislation in 2007 support it in 2009, we're looking at a potential for 63 votes in favor, enough to head off a filibuster. (From three votes down to three votes up -- that's good karma.) Of course, the Senate is never that easy -- any senator could place an indefinite hold on the legislation if they so chose. But even if the Washington Post editorial board is urging us to lower our expectations, it's at least encouraging to know that the votes are there.
None of this answers the question of when the legislation will be brought up, how quickly it will be ushered through the the House and Senate, or if court challenges will delay its implementation if it passes and is signed by President-elect Obama. But the votes seem to be there for the legislation, and that is something of a victory itself.