Senator’s Absence Worries Democrats as Gun Votes Near

Mr. Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat and the oldest member of the Senate at 89, has been out for weeks dealing with health complications partly from cancer treatment he received several years ago.

But with Democrats scrambling to come up with enough votes to overcome resistance to the most sweeping gun-control legislation in a generation, Mr. Lautenberg’s presence (or absence) is shaping up to be critically important.

Aides insist that Mr. Lautenberg, who has been undergoing physical therapy for weeks, will try to get to Washington once the voting begins on the assortment of gun-safety measures, which are expected to come to the floor in the coming weeks.

Mr. Lautenberg’s aides say he is eager to return, particularly given that he introduced an amendment to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines.

“Senator Lautenberg is feeling better and hopes to be in Washington for gun votes,” Caley Gray, a spokesman for the senator, said in a statement on Monday.

For weeks, rumors and concern have been swirling about the health of Mr. Lautenberg, who this year announced that he would retire rather than seek a sixth term in 2014. The senator cast his most recent vote in the Senate on Feb. 28.

The preoccupation with Mr. Lautenberg, one of the chamber’s most ardent advocates of gun control, has only intensified as the Senate moved in recent days to begin the most significant debate on gun legislation in two decades.

For the last few weeks, Mr. Lautenberg, who received a diagnosis of stomach cancer three years ago, has been grappling with debilitating and long-term consequences that powerful chemotherapy treatment has had on his leg muscles, according to people close to him.

As a result, he has been using a wheelchair while undergoing physical therapy to regain his strength. But Mr. Lautenberg, an extraordinarily proud man who served in World War II, has not wanted to show up in the Senate in a wheelchair, according to those who know him.

For Democrats, the interest in Mr. Lautenberg’s health goes far beyond the coming votes on gun legislation.

Should Mr. Lautenberg decide to retire before his term ends, his departure could have a significant impact on the balance of power in the Senate, where Democrats hold 53 seats and are typically joined by two independents.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, would have the legal authority to make an interim appointment to the seat. And he would almost certainly select a Republican, depriving Democrats of a crucial vote in the Senate.

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Minority senators raise alarm on elections-linked bills

A trio of racially diverse state senators on Monday condemned elections-related bills that they say discriminate against minorities and called on the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor the legislation.

Of particular concern to the senators are Senate Bill 1003, which would limit who can return a voter's ballot, and SB 1261, which would drop people from the early voting list if they failed to mail in their ballots and instead voted at the polls. Both passed the Senate last week.

"It would truly throw up obstacles to the early-vote process," Senate Minority Leader Leah Landrum Taylor said of SB 1261. She is African-American.

She was joined by Sens. Jack Jackson Jr., a Navajo, and Steve Gallardo, who is Latino. All three are Democrats, and all three said the bills would have a "devastating" impact on minority voting.

Gallardo said the legislation is a great example of why Arizona still needs to be under the protection of the federal Voting Rights Act, which was passed to protect minority voting rights and just last week was the topic of a U.S. Supreme Court case.

"The potential effect of these bills is alarming, and the genesis of these bills is equally concerning," the senators wrote.

None of the groups that have worked to increase minority voting was invited to the meetings where the bill language was crafted, Gallardo said. Although the bills have the backing of the state's 15 county elections officials, Gallardo said, those officials need to look outside their offices and consider the effect on voters.

Sen. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, introduced the bills and made changes in response to concerns raised at public hearings last month. SB 1003 originally said only an immediate family member or roommate could drop a person's ballot at the polls, but she changed it to allow the voter to designate someone to do so, requiring signed statements from both the voter and the person delivering the ballot.

But the bill prevents any member of a political committee, political party or group or organization -- such as those that mobilized Latino voters last fall -- from delivering people's ballots. However, it exempts candidates and their spouses, who could continue to collect ballots and deliver them to elections officials.

Anyone violating the return procedures would be guilty of a Class 6 felony.

Democratic Party officials said it's common for voters to drop off their ballots at party headquarters, because they are wary of the U.S. Postal Service. Last November, 600 to 700 voters did so, party spokesman Frank Camacho said.

The state Republican Party said it doesn't get such requests, but Maricopa County GOP Chairman A.J. LaFaro said it has happened on the county level. However, he said, party officials support SB 1003 and would adjust.

The senators also complained about another bill that would have required anyone who received an early ballot to return it a week before election day. That measure, SB 1274, was held in the Senate Elections Committee and has not advanced. The other two bills are awaiting action in the House.

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