HR1 Election Overhaul Would Tip Scales Toward Democrats, Critics Say

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R) with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (L) in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on March 6, 2019. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

House Democrats passed a massive elections overhaul and campaign finance bill on March 8 that proponents said would greatly increase voting rights and crack down on the influence of money in the U.S. political system.

The nearly 700-page proposal, known as the “For the People Act,” or H.R.1, passed on a straight party line vote, 234–193, and was heralded by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as “a historic reform package to restore the promise of our nation’s democracy.”