The right to vote in the US

The hyper-partisan drift that has hijacked United States politics, inevitably accelerated by the presidency of Donald Trump, has reached the very essence of the system, the right to vote. President Joe Biden this week supported a change to the Senate rules in order to pass a new federal election law. The objective is to put limits from Washington on the laws that some republican states are brazenly approving aimed at limiting the vote of minorities, traditionally Democrats, and influencing the independence of the process. In an election year, and after the unresolved trauma of the attempt to challenge the last presidential elections, this is an emergency.

Biden was a senator for four decades. He built a prestige as a man of consensus. He is convinced that partisan changes damage the system, since they generate a spiral of resentment and end up provoking a backlash from the other party as soon as the majorities change. But in the last year there are realities that have become evident. First, that democracy is threatened by an illiberal current led by Donald Trump, a man who does not believe in the system. Second, that the Republicans in Washington do not intend to put a stop to it. And third, that the electoral system is fragile, and rules crafted by local Republicans can have disproportionate and unfair influence in key states. Federal regulations are necessary to guarantee access to voting and the cleanliness of the process.But the Democrats have only 50 senators. In the Senate, most bills require at least 60 to pass, a rule called

. Thought to force consensus, in practice it is a boycott tool. The frustration of the Democrats has put on the table the "nuclear option" of changing the regulation to limit the

. It is not clear that they can, since at least two Democratic senators refuse.

Trump dynamited the political conventions of the United States. Scandal after scandal, the country was discovering that many things that it took for granted are not actually written anywhere, but depend on an enviable way of exercising public service, reverential with tradition , institutions and symbols. Among them is the management of elections. If there is no constitutional crisis in the country today, it is thanks to the fact that a few people, including textbook Republicans, stood up to Trump. This is the context in which Biden operates. Forcing the rules of the Senate would open an uncertain chapter in American democracy. The chances of it turning against the Democrats are obvious. But when it comes to the credibility of the elections,too much is at stake for it to depend on a handful of people doing the right thing.

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