The White House said Friday that election-integrity proposals in many Republican-led states are attacking the rights of “especially people of color,” and vowed that Vice President Kamala D. Harris will use the power of her office to help expand voting rights.
“Plain and simple, these voter suppression laws are meant to attack Americans’ constitutional rights — especially people of color — and that is absolutely unacceptable to the president,” the White House said. “He ran to restore the soul of America, and to address the four principal crises facing our nation – one of which is racial justice.”
The statement noted that Mr. Biden has tapped Ms. Harris “to take charge of a new, intensified campaign on this [voting rights] issue, signifying its vital importance to this administration.”
“Her strategy is to use the bully pulpit to build additional public support on top of the bipartisan majorities that already back our voting rights agenda,” the White House said. “She’s using the power of the White House to convene key stakeholders, and will be hosting several next week. And she’ll continue to fight for our key bills.”
Ms. Harris has invited Texas Democratic state legislators to the White House next week, after they blocked a Republican election-integrity proposal in the legislature by walking out of the session.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, tweeted that it’s “Very sad and concerning that the @VP will meet with Democrats who want to kill election integrity in Texas, but she won’t come visit the Texas border where we have a serious crisis that she’s responsible for.”
The White House is facing a likely GOP filibuster in the Senate over a House-passed bill on voting that would bar states from requiring voter ID and would generally expand mail-in voting options, among many other features.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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