“Today, our freedom to vote is under assault. In Georgia and across our nation, anti-voter laws are being passed that could make it more difficult for as many as 55 million Americans to vote—55 million Americans. That is one out of six people in our country,” said Harris, during her speech.
Recently, Georgia enacted sweeping changes to its voting laws with the passage of SB 202. The bill, which deals with everything from counting procedures to identification requirements, was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last year. Kemp has defended the bill, which has come under heavy fire from the administration.
“It is obvious that neither President [Joe] Biden nor his handlers have actually read SB 202 … This bill expands voting access, streamlines vote-counting procedures, and ensures election integrity,” said Kemp. in the wake of the bill’s passage. “There is nothing ‘Jim Crow’ about requiring a photo or state-issued ID to vote by absentee ballot–every Georgia voter must already do so when voting in-person. President Biden, the left, and the national media are determined to destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box.”
Harris pointed to the legacy of the late King as she called the state’s new procedures into question. “As has been said, as is known throughout the world, Dr. King was a prophet. He was a prophet in that he saw the present exactly as it was and the future as it could be. And he pushed our nation toward that future,” she said during her remarks. “He pushed for racial justice, for economic justice, and for the freedom that unlocks all others: the freedom to vote.”
The Vice President added she sees the new voting procedures as a twofold problem. First, she said, the state is building in obstacles for potential voters. Secondly, she accused proponents of the changes of actively trying to manipulate favorable outcomes and discredit unfavorable ones. “That is not how democracies work,” she said.
From Twitter
".@SenBillCassidy offers Georgia as an example of a red state that has permissive voting laws. But GA's new election law contains at least 16 measures to restrict ballot access. And they aren't finished yet. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-republican-proposes-eliminating-ballot-drop-boxes-ahead-2022-elections-2021-12-13/"
In order to combat laws she sees as obstructionist, Harris called for the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. Harris said that bill represents an opportunity to overcome what she argues is a Supreme Court-driven voting rights erosion.
The John R. Lewis Act, according to Democrate Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, who sponsored the House version of the bill, would “restore key protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965… which were gutted by the Supreme Court in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision and more recently in the 2021 Brnovich v. DNC decision.”
Protections in the bill would include, among other things, a prohibition of state and local governments with a “recent history of voter discrimination” from biased redistricting by updating federal oversight guidelines. It also amends part of the Voting Rights Act by eliminating the “heightened standard for challenging voter discrimination that the Supreme Court created in … Brnovich v. DNC.”
“Today, we must not be complacent or complicit. We must not give up, and we must not give in,” concluded Harris. “To truly honor the legacy of the man we celebrate today, we must continue to fight for the freedom to vote, for freedom for all.”