Kamala Harris launches 'Voter Protection Teams' as part of $25MILLION bid to overturn Republican election laws Democrats call the 'most egregious attack on voters in decades'
Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday announced a new $25 million effort by Democrats to overturn Republican election laws and launch a 'Voter Protection Team' to ensure their supporters make it to the polls.
Her announcement came ahead of a meeting she and President Joe Biden are having at the White House with the heads of civil rights organizations on Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue. Leaders from the NAACP, the National Urban League and the National Action Network, among others, are scheduled to attend.
Voting rights is one of the many hot topics the president has put on Harris' plate, including dealing with root causes of migration and pushing people to get their COVID vaccines, as her office deals with reports of in-fighting and staff squabbling.
Harris announced the expansion of the Democratic National Committee's 'I Will Vote' initiative in a speech at her Howard University, her alma mater.
'This is the fight of our lifetime,' she said.
The initiative, which the DNC said will 'fight back against Republicans' unprecedented voter suppression efforts,' includes more money to get voters registered, launching a 'Voter Protection team' to Republican-controlled states who have passed restrictive voting laws, and creating a tech team to hunt down eligible voters who have been purged from voter rolls.
'We are going to assemble the largest voter protection team we have ever had to ensure that all Americans can vote and have your vote counted in a fair and transparent process,' Harris noted.
'This is not about Democrats or Republicans, it's about Americans,' she added.
Additionally, in an effort to reach new and younger voters, and diverse constituencies, the DNC will partner with social media creators on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to tout Biden's presidency and promote Democratic candidates.
The focus on voter rights comes ahead of the 2022 midterms and after several states have passed more restrictive voting rights laws. Many of those laws were passed in the wake of Donald Trump's false claims he won the election and was the victim of voter fraud.
Harris slammed the laws, saying they 'make it harder for you to vote, so that you don't vote.'
'These laws, create obstacle, upon obstacle,' she noted.
The DNC also criticized the laws, calling them 'the most egregious attacks on voters and voting rights in decades.'
Between January 1 and May 14, 2021, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to the vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks voter right issues.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new $25 million effort by Democrats to overturn Republican election laws and launch a 'Voter Protection Team'
Democrats' new initiative includes launching a 'Voter Protection team' and a tech team to hunt down eligible voters who have been purged from voter rolls
The White House is pushing voter rights after criticism from some of their biggest voting blocs that they are not doing enough on the issue. Senate Republicans last month blocked national voting rights legislation.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, will deliver a major speech on the issue, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, although she declined to provide specific details on when that would take place.
'The president felt it was important to meet directly with civil rights leaders and talk to them about how we can work together to continue to push for federal legislation, continue to use every lever in the federal government to make voting more accessible across the country,' Psaki said ahead of the White House meeting.
'Certainly he conveyed he wants to speak to the country about voting rights and how he's going to address it moving forward. I don't have any scheduling updates for you today but he certainly plans to – continues to plan to do that,' she added.