But even if Democrats aren’t able to pass voting rights legislation, they can at least establish themselves as the party in favor of democracy and voting rights. The question is, will this be enough for their base? At least one expert told me that the party risks looking feckless, if not useless, if they cannot deliver.

“You don’t get points for trying; you get points for succeeding,” said Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor of law at Harvard Law School. “So the party base who cares about voting rights as an issue are not going to care that Democrats tried and failed. If anything, they’ll be irritated and disappointed if the bill has a lot of salience and still doesn’t pass.”

Then again, other experts I spoke with said that Democrats don’t have much to lose by trying. Particularly now, on the heels of the first anniversary of Jan. 6, there’s a real window for Democrats to highlight their commitment to preserving Americans’ right to vote. That could be a winning message for the party, too, and a way to contrast themselves with Republicans, who recently pushed a number of laws at the state level aimed at restricting voting access.