“This is a low, low point in the history of this body,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declared Wednesday afternoon, after Senate Republicans again blocked voting rights legislation. On this vote, only Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski broke ranks. Just 15 years ago, on July 20, 2006, the Senate passed the Voting Rights Act reauthorization unanimously. Every Republican—including current Sens. McConnell, Grassley, Shelby, Inhofe, Collins, Cornyn, Graham, Burr, Thune—voted for it. For some unknowable reason, Democrats Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin believe those nine senators are still willing to strengthen voting rights. Remarkably, they seem to believe that by continuing to allow them to have the filibuster, Republicans will be thankful and extend the hand of bipartisanship instead of using that filibuster to make sure Republicans can pass state voting laws to ensure Democrats never have a majority in Congress or can gain the White House again. After 11 months of Republicans spitting on that hand of friendship, they’re keeping it out there. Maybe they’re masochists. Maybe being humiliated again and again by Republicans is more fulfilling to them than restoring democracy. The two are essentially standing alone. Noted moderate Sen. Tom Carper, of Delaware, made that clear Thursday in an op-ed in The News Journal. “Right now, in statehouses across the country, state legislators are enacting a wave of voting restrictions with the sole purpose of making it harder to vote,” Carper writes. “In this year alone, 19 states have enacted 33 laws to restrict voting, oftentimes specifically targeting Black Americans. Meanwhile, many elected officials are embracing the Big Lie as justification to strip away voting rights and weaken our non-partisan electoral process.” Read more