After pledging on January 6 to defend democracy, President Joe Biden is in Georgia on Tuesday to advocate for the protection of the right to vote in the United States.
Democrats have been hammering for months that defending the right to vote against state-level limitations is a critical step in preserving the country’s democratic values.
“This is one of those defining moments, it really is,” Joe Biden said outside the White House as he left for Atlanta, where he will use his presidential clout to urge Congress to pass. its voting rights reform program.
Joe Biden is also expected to embrace the idea of a temporary exception to filibuster rules that require 60 votes in order for bills to pass the Senate, a tall order in a house split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. .
“People are going to be judged, where were they before and where were they after the vote. History will judge this […] and therefore the risk is to make sure that people understand how important it is, ”added the American president.
The divided Senate
For their part, Republicans claim that the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis’ Advancement of Voting Rights Act are simply measures to prevent them from seizing power.
In a 50-50 split Senate, the bills have drawn new attention to the two most coveted Democratic votes on Capitol Hill: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also vowed to trigger a vote on filibuster reform – the procedural tool that requires 60 votes to pass legislation in the upper house.
Neither Mr. Manchin nor Ms. Sinema have shown any leeway to eliminate filibuster, long a priority for progressive Democrats, but not for the party as a whole.
“The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation,” President Joe Biden will say later today in Atlanta, according to an excerpt from his speech released by the White House.
“I won’t give in. I won’t give up. I will defend your right to vote and our democracy against all foreign and domestic enemies. And so the question is, where will the institution of the US Senate be? “
Joe Biden has said in the past that he will support allowing a temporary exception to the filibuster rules to pass voting bills, and he is expected to reinforce that position in his Atlanta speech.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday called the moment rare in the country’s history, where “the essential is immediately torn from the trivial.”
“We need to make sure that January 6 does not mark the end of democracy, but the start of a renaissance for our democracy,” Ms. Psaki said, referring to the storming of Capitol Hill last year by supporters of Donald Trump determined to prevent confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory.
“We defend the right to vote and make sure that this vote is counted fairly, not undermined by supporters who are afraid to know who you voted for or who are trying to reverse a result,” she added.
Several voting limitations
An analysis released last year by the Brennan Center for Justice found that 19 states passed 33 new laws in 2021 that toughen voting rules, especially around voter identification and the use of voting rights. advance ballots or by mail.
Strict new sanctions on election officials in Georgia, Texas, Kansas and Iowa make it harder for election officials to help voters, for example by handing out completed ballots to people who may need help to do it.
In Georgia, it is illegal to provide food or water to people in line at polling stations. Texas has made it illegal to encourage voters to apply for mail-in ballots or to regulate the behavior of election observers.
“Whether it’s education, health care or whatever, being able to exercise your right to have a say in those decisions – that’s how democracy works,” said Alice Huling, voting expert and general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on electoral issues.
“Unfortunately, this ability – the freedom to have a say in those decisions – has faced multiple threats. Added Ms. Huling.
Many of these threats were in direct response to former President Donald Trump’s persistent and continuing efforts to undermine the 2020 election results, which by all measures, legal and otherwise, legitimately elected Joe Biden to the House. -White.
Critics say the measures represent a broad, concerted effort to deny some voters the right to vote in the United States, especially low-income Americans and people of color, and to facilitate the challenge of legitimate election results.
The antidotes, they say, are already before Congress.
If passed, the Freedom to Vote Act would set minimum federal standards for access to the vote and make it more difficult for partisan actors to rig the process. Bill John Lewis, named after the late Georgia congressman and civil rights activist, is designed to limit discrimination at the ballot box.
Senatorial Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sees the measures a little differently.
Democrats are telling “scary fictional stories” of threat to democracy, McConnell said in a statement last week – proof that both parties are preparing to make the fight for the right to vote a defining battle on Capitol Hill in 2022.
“This is a takeover that Democrats have sought for several years, using a number of different justifications,” McConnell said. This is not a “right to vote” bill. It is a sprawling and radical takeover of our democracy. “