POTUS Taps VP to Lead Administration’s Effort to Protect Voting Rights
When the Republican effort to suppress voter rights is glaringly racist, who better to oversee the effort to make sure all eligible Americans are able to vote than a person of color? And if that person just happens to be the most visible Black woman of Indian heritage, even better.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the administration’s push to protect voting rights as federal election reform legislation faces steep hurdles in a closely divided Senate. During remarks commemorating the Tulsa, Oklahoma, race massacre, President Biden said that with Vice President Harris in charge, voting reforms would “address what remains on the stained soul of America.”
“With her leadership, and your support, we’re going to overcome again,” the President said, speaking to community leaders and survivors on the 100-year anniversary of the bloody attack on the city’s Black residents. President Biden also condemned the “un-American” Republican-led efforts to place new limits on elections in the wake of Donald Trump’s defeat, including in Texas, where Democrats staged a walkout over the weekend to effectively kill a restrictive voting bill.
In his speech, President Biden asked voting rights groups to “redouble their efforts now to register and educate voters,” and said his administration will be “ramping up efforts” to counter the “unprecedented assault” on voting.
NEWS: In Tulsa speech, President Biden announces he is tapping Vice President Kamala Harris to lead efforts on voting rights as the GOP carries out efforts to pass laws restricting voting.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 1, 2021
Vice President Harris said she will work with organizations and lawmakers on the important high-profile issue. “In the days and weeks ahead, I will engage the American people, and I will work with voting rights organizations, community organizations, and the private sector to help strengthen and uplift efforts on voting rights nationwide. And we will also work with members of Congress to help advance these bills,” the Vice President said in a statement. “Our Administration will not stand by when confronted with any effort that keeps Americans from voting.”
Is it just me or does it feel like voting rights just got put on the top of the #BuildBackBetter bucket list? #KamalaHarris going to get it done.
— Regina Marston (@Marston4ca42) June 1, 2021