WASHINGTON — It is the public policy division of our time. Voter integrity versus voter suppression.
How you view the debate seems to boil down to which party you support.
Tuesday, the issue was front and center before the U.S. Senate.
Following former President Donald J. Trump's seven-million vote defeat last November, restrictive voting measures were taken up and passed in several Republican-led states across the country.
"Republicans claim they're making it easier to vote and harder to cheat in an election," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York). "In reality, they're making it harder to vote and easier to cheat. We all know it."
In response, the Democrat-led U.S. Senate put forth "S-1," the "For the People Act, said to be the greatest overhaul of election laws in a generation, allowing automatic registration and expanding early and absentee voting.
"It's a recipe for undermining confidence in our elections, for re-making our entire system of government to suit the preferences of one far end of the political spectrum."
Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, sensed early in the day that reaching the needed 60 votes would be a long shot.
Still, he said, because of the new GOP imposed voting restrictions at the state level, he firmly supports "S-1."
"We are seeing state legislatures across the country, controlled by far right-wing Trump extremists, literally going in and dramatically undermining voting rights in this country."
Warner called such efforts "an attack on democracy."