One year after Jan. 6, Mitch McConnell still “obstructor-in-chief” on election rules.

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of one of the darkest days in our democracy, when insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol while Congress was counting the electoral college votes showing that Joe Biden had won the presidency. But instead of taking bold action to prevent future assaults on our democracy, Senator Mitch McConnell has stood in the way of democracy reform. If he truly cared about our democratic republic—as he claimed soon after the insurrection—then he would act to prevent future attacks on our institutions. He would encourage his Republican caucus to join Democrats in meaningful election improvements.

Instead, this week Senator McConnell implausibly claimed that no legislature would ever attempt to overturn an election—so there is no need for Congress to act.

NBC News’s Sahil Kapur quoted McConnell as saying, “Why would any legislature in America want to overturn the counting of votes? ... The notion that some state legislature would be crazy enough to say to their own voters—‘We’re not gonna honor the outcome of an election’—is ridiculous.”

Senator McConnell must have forgotten about the 147 Republican Members of Congress (including Kentucky’s own Hal Rogers) who quite literally objected to counting electoral college votes from swing states, despite zero evidence of fraud or other problems that would call the result of those states into question. Or the push last year from President Trump and his allies for certain state legislatures to “decertify” their election results (which is, quite bluntly, not a thing).

Instead of shoring up our election system, McConnell has acted as an obstructor-in-chief on any dialogue about election rules. His comments above were in the context of his refusal to even consider the Democrats’ proposals on democracy reform—even though our system desperately needs it. Instead of passing voting enhancements, states all around the country have responded to Trump’s Big Lie of massive election fraud by making it harder to vote. Meanwhile, these laws are also taking authority away from professional election officials and giving politicians more power to overturn the will of the people in a future election.

Congress certainly has the constitutional authority to enact election laws. Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution says that state legislatures have the first pass at determining the “times, places, and manner” of holding federal elections, but that Congress may “make or alter” those rules. After what happened on January 6 last year, Congress also has the moral imperative to pass a law to protect our democracy.

Of course, the Democrats should not unilaterally enact voting rules without input from the other side. One political party should not just impose its rules on its opponent. As the Kentucky legislature demonstrated just last year, election laws are most legitimate when both parties have a say. Kentucky became a positive national story for bucking the trend and passing a bipartisan bill that both enhanced access for voters and improved election security. Congress could do the same thing—if McConnell would not stand in the way.

But instead of negotiating the details of the Democrats’ proposal, the Freedom to Vote Act, McConnell refuses to engage in any dialogue whatsoever. The law even has ideas that Republicans should support, such as requiring paper ballots and mandating best practices for post-election audits. It would also impose measures to limit partisan gerrymandering—which would stop egregious gerrymanders by the worst abusers on both sides, such as Republicans in Wisconsin and Democrats in Illinois.

McConnell has refused to discuss any of these ideas, instead claiming that the federal government should not be involved at all. But as the Jan. 6 insurrection showed, our democracy is in grave danger. McConnell’s obstruction now gives Democrats the moral authority to go it alone and toss the filibuster to respond to the attacks on the very foundation of our government.

We should mark Jan. 6 with the solemnity it deserves but also with a renewed commitment to American democracy. If McConnell cares about his legacy and about the future health of the American experiment, then he would join the conversation.

Joshua A. Douglas is a law professor at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law. He is the author of “Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting.” Find him at www.joshuaadouglas.com and follow him on Twitter @JoshuaADouglas.