Republicans block Democrats’ signature elections bill

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talks with reporters before voting on the Democrats’ election reform bill (J Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Democrats’ sweeping attempt to rewrite US election and voting law stalled in the Senate on Tuesday, blocked by a wall of Republican opposition to what would have been the largest overhaul of the electoral system in a generation.

The bill, known as the For the People Act, would touch on virtually every aspect of how elections are conducted, striking down hurdles to voting that advocates view as the Civil Rights fight of the era.