The latest on voting rights in the US

Vice President Kamala Harris gave brief remarks, welcoming Texas state House Democrats back to Washington, DC, Tuesday, after an unannounced stop at the American Federation of Teachers during what appeared to be an ongoing meeting.

“I wanted to stop by, say hello and to say welcome and to say, thank you,” Harris said while standing and speaking into a microphone.

Harris told the group of the statement she gave on their actions yesterday in Detroit, Michigan, complimenting them on the “courage and the commitment and the patriotism,” she said they were showing with their actions. 

“I know what you have done comes with great sacrifice, both personal and political. And you are doing this in support and in defense of some of our nation’s highest ideals,” she said.

The vice president ticked through voting rights flash points in time, from Fredrick Douglass’ 1867 appeal to Congress over the right for Black men to vote, to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

“And 2021, the Texas Legislature came to Washington, DC,” Harris said to applause.

She repeated a frequent stance that protecting and expanding the right to vote should not be a partisan issue, and used the example of a single parent who “needs to be able to have a drive through or a drop box,” to vote, and cited Americans with disabilities who need to vote by mail. 

Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to meet with Texas Democrats this afternoon, according to a source familiar with the planning.

The source would not confirm where the group would meet.

This will be the second meeting the vice president has had with some members of the group, the first taking place in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in June.

After traveling to DC to break the state House’s quorum in an effort to block a GOP-led bill, Texas House Democrats said Tuesday they can only hold off Republicans’ push for restrictive new voting laws for weeks and urged President Biden and Democratic members of Congress to look for new ways to implement federal protections — including backing South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn’s call for a filibuster carve-out for voting rights legislation.

Reporting from CNN’s Clare Foran and Lauren Fox contributed to this post.

In response to Texas’ Republicans renewed push for restrictive new voting laws in the state, activists are holding a voting rights advocacy day at Texas’ Capitol Tuesday.

Youth organizers on the ground in Texas say the day of action is, in part, meant to send a message to lawmakers that young people in the state – who are increasingly more diverse than their older counterparts – will not back down when it comes to protecting their right to vote.

The day of action is co-hosted by a number of civic engagement organizations including MOVE Texas, Common Cause Texas, Texas Rising, Voto Latino, Jolt Action, ACLU of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project and more.

Topping their list of concerns, activists say, is a proposal that would stop expansive practices such as drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting.

Ehresman, who spent 26 hours at Texas’ Capitol this weekend and testified against the proposed measures on the floor of the Texas House and Senate, said her friends “remember struggling finding time to wait in line to vote and now anecdotally are [asking] why [lawmakers] would want to get rid of early voting or drive-in voting.”

“We see this legislation as a direct attack on the massive increase in youth turnout we saw last year,” said Charlie Bonner, a 25-year-old spokesperson for MOVE Texas, a youth voter engagement organization that registered more than 50,000 voters between the ages of 18 and 30 ahead of the 2020 election.

Bonner emphasized the increased diversity of young people in Texas and stressed the danger in limiting these voters’ access to the ballot box.

“Unfortunately we don’t have an electorate that matches the lived experiences of the folks here. We want to build an electorate reflective of the rich diversity of this beautiful state, but instead of we have these measures that seek to restrict access to make the smallest electorate possible to hold onto power,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, activists with Jolt Action, a group that looks to increase civic participation of Latinos in Texas, dressed in quinceañera attire during a news conference in front of the Capitol. In a statement Tuesday the group said the proposed legislation “would further restrict young voters of color from exercising their right to vote.”

While President Biden’s speech on voting rights addressed concerns raised by civil rights groups and Democrats across the country about the White House’s commitment to the issue, the President needs to go a step further to create change and pass legislation, CNN’s Dana Bash said.

“Unless the President is going to go another step and going say we need to change rules in the United States Senate to get this done so the federal government can have more of an impact, what he was doing is taking kind of a butter knife to a fight against a nuclear bomb,” Bash explained.

The key rule being the Senate filibuster.

“And that is what the pressure is going to continue to be on the President to convince some of those moderate Democrats, in the place he used to work for 36 years, the United States Senate, that this is the one issue that is important to work around the filibuster on,” she said.

Political commentator Bakari Sellers echoed similar sentiments.

The fight over voting rights has once again put the filibuster front and center.

Passing new federal voting legislation in Congress that President Biden advocated for today will almost certainly require altering filibuster rules, since Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate isn’t enough to overcome GOP opposition.

In his remarks today, the President stopped short of embracing changes to the Senate procedure, despite calls from civil rights groups and other Democrats.

But what is a filibuster, and why do Democrats want to change it? The short version of the story is that Democrats want to reinterpret Senate rules so they can use just 50 votes to pass things like the voting rights bill or Biden’s massive infrastructure package.

According to the Senate website — which has its own glossary — a filibuster is this: “Informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions, or by any other delaying or obstructive actions.”

These days, it’s shorthand for anytime senators demand a supermajority to cut off debate and move to an actual vote on just about anything.

When people talk about ending the filibuster, what they really mean is reinterpreting Senate rules around cloture so that legislation could pass by a simple majority instead of being held up by a minority.

Because Democrats have only 50 votes right now, every one of them needs to be on board to change the Senate rules — and they could be changed back in the future. Currently, moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia are not in favor of changing it.

Read more about the filibuster here.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Paul LeBlanc and Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.

State lawmakers have enacted nearly 30 laws since the 2020 election that restrict ballot access, according to a new tally as of June 21 by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

The 28 total laws in 17 states mark a new record for restrictive voting laws since 2011, when the Brennan Center recorded 19 laws enacted in 14 state legislatures.

President Biden referenced the tally during a voting rights speech in Philadelphia, saying that “the 21st century Jim Crow assault is real.”

More than half of these new state laws make it harder to vote absentee and by mail, after a record number of Americans voted by mail in November.

The legislative push is part of a national Republican effort to restrict access to the ballot box following record turnout in the 2020 election. Republicans currently control both chambers of 30 state legislatures.

State lawmakers are expected to attempt enacting additional laws this year.

The NAACP will offer to pay bail for Texas Democrats after Gov. Greg Abbott claimed they would be arrested for fleeing to the state in last-ditch attempt to block a new voting law, a spokesperson for the organization tells CNN.

Abbott told KVUE Monday that once the state House Democrats return to Texas, “they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done.”

Upon reconvening in Austin on Tuesday morning, a quorum was not present in the Texas state House for the special legislative session. However, a motion was approved to direct the Texas House Sergeant at Arms to send for all unexcused absent members in an effort secure a quorum, “under warrant of arrest, if necessary.” Texas law enforcement does not have jurisdiction in Washington, DC, so it is unlikely the order will have much effect while the Texas House Democrats remain out of state. 

President Biden today sought to pressure Republican lawmakers to get on board with Democratic legislation that would seek to protect voter’s rights from new state laws that would impose limits on voting.

“We’ll be asked my Republican friends in Congress and states and cities and counties to stand up for God sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election and the sacred right to vote,” he said. 

“Hear me clearly,” he continued. “There’s an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections, an assault on Democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are as Americans.”

In a major speech on voting rights President Biden slammed GOP-controlled legislatures who have moved ahead with laws restricting ballot access, calling it “election subversion.”

“To me, this is simple. It’s election subversion. It’s the most dangerous threat to voting in the integrity of free and fair elections in our history,” he said.

“They want the ability to reject the final count and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate loses,” he continued, adding that it’s “unconscionable.”

He compared their actions to behavior seen in autocracies around the world.

Biden urged Americans of every background and political party to come together to raise the urgency of this moment. 

“In 2020, democracy was put to a test. First by the pandemic. Then by a desperate attempt to deny the reality of the results of the election, and then by violent and deadly insurrection on the capitol, the citadel of our democracy,” he warned.

President Biden called attacks on voting rights “the most significant test” of American democracy since its Civil War in the 1860s.

He continued: “The Confederates back then never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did on Jan. 6. I’m not saying this to alarm you. I’m saying this because you should be alarmed.”

But Biden added that there is “good news”: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“We have the means — we just need the will. The will to save and strengthen our democracy,” Biden said.

President Biden said that American democracy is “going to face another test in 2022” during the midterm elections.

He said that the US needs to prepare to face “a new wave of unprecedented voter suppression and raw and sustained election subversion” in 2022.

President Biden pushed for the passage of federal voting rights legislation during his remarks in Philadelphia today.

He said the fight to protect voting rights starts with “continuing the fight to pass” the For the People Act.

“That bill would help end voter suppression in states. Get dark money out of politics. Give voice to people. Create a fair district maps and end partisan political gerrymandering,” the President explained.

Biden criticized Republicans for opposing “even debating, even considering For the People Act. Senate Democrats stood united to protect our democracy and the sanctity of the vote. We must pass the for the people act. It’s national imperative.”

Biden also highlighted the importance of passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. “To restore and expand voting protections and prevent voter suppression,” he said.

Biden said the Supreme Court decision to again weaken the Voting Rights Act “harmful” and called on Congress to repair the “damage done”

“That’s the important point. Puts the burden back on Congress to restore the voting rights act to its intended strength. As soon as Congress passes the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, I will sign it and let the whole world see it. That will be an important moment,” Biden said.

President Biden came down hard on former President Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election during his speech on voting rights in Philadelphia today.

“The Big Lie is just that: A big lie,” Biden said.

The President talked about the level of scrutiny placed on the results of the 2020 election, pointing out that there has been no evidence found that the results were wrong.

Biden noted that in 2020 more people voted in America — more than 150 million votes cast — than ever in the history of US elections and did so “in the middle of a once in a century pandemic.”

In a speech addressing voting rights in the US, President Biden said that the right to vote should be “simple and straightforward.”

“This is a test of our time,” Biden said.

President Biden is delivering a highly anticipated speech on voting rights from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday, the President will make “the moral case” for voting rights in remarks centered around protecting ballot access in the face of “authoritarian and anti-American” restrictions.

The address from Biden comes in the aftermath of former President Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and as Republican-controlled legislatures have pressed ahead with new state laws imposing limits on voting.

Since the November election, state lawmakers have enacted 28 laws in 17 states that restrict ballot access, according to a June tally by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Biden will decry Republican obstruction to a sweeping election reform bill that Democrats argue is a necessary counter to state-level efforts to restrict voting access. The President will stress that the work to pass that legislation, the For the People Act, as well as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act “are only beginning,” according to a White House official.

Biden will also call for a new coalition made up of advocates, activists, students, faith leaders, labor leaders and business executives “to overcome this un-American trend and meet the moment as far as turnout and voter education,” the official said.

Where things stand in Congress: The President and his team have repeatedly previewed a major push on voting rights after Republicans in the US Senate blocked a sweeping election reform bill last month, but it remains unclear how much he can accomplish.

Passing new voting legislation in Congress will almost certainly require altering filibuster rules, since Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate isn’t enough to overcome GOP opposition — and it’s not clear Democrat have the votes to pass a bill anyway.

Read more about Biden’s speech here.

President Biden is facing increasing pressure from Black civil rights leaders to take an aggressive stance on Congress eliminating the filibuster and passing federal legislation that would protect voters as the President prepares to deliver a major speech on voting rights Tuesday.

Black leaders say Biden has not acted swiftly enough on voting rights as a growing number of states pass laws that restrict voting access. His address in Philadelphia comes less than a week after the President met with the leaders of several civil rights organizations at the White House.

The group demanded that Biden go into communities and speak about what he was doing to protect voting rights, said Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, who attended the White House meeting.

The leaders also urged the Biden administration to do more to push Congress to approve the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Black voters, Campbell said, put Biden in office with the expectation that he would rally against GOP efforts to suppress their votes.

According to the White House, Biden’s speech Tuesday will include “remarks on actions to protect the sacred, constitutional right to vote.”

Passing voting rights legislation has been an uphill battle for Democrats because of the filibuster, which means their slim majority in the Senate isn’t enough to overcome GOP opposition. Moderate Democrats have opposed major changes to the rules, making the future of new voting laws unclear. Biden has also stopped short of supporting elimination of the filibuster but has expressed openness to making the practice harder to execute.

Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said there is no path to voting rights that does not require modifying or ending the filibuster.

Biden, he said, has the power to influence lawmakers and that it would be an “epic fail” if the President doesn’t take a stand against the filibuster in his speech.

“The President’s hands are never tied,” Albright said.

Read more here.

Vice President Kamala Harris will meet this week with the Texas legislators “who broke quorum to block legislation that would have made it significantly harder for the people of Texas to vote,” her office says. 

The Texas Democrats left the state Monday in an effort to block Republicans from passing a restrictive new voting law in the remaining 27 days of the special legislative session called by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Two chartered planes carrying the majority of the Democrats who left Texas for Washington, DC, landed at Dulles International Airport on Monday evening, a source familiar told CNN. They have largely kept their planning secret because they can be legally compelled to return to the state Capitol and believed law enforcement could be sent to track them down, two sources familiar with the Democrats’ plans had told CNN earlier Monday.

Reporting from CNN’s Clare Foran and Lauren Fox contributed to this post.

Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes, of Maryland, said he hopes President Biden uses his authority to “lean in” on voting rights and begins pushing harder for the passage of the For the People Act.

Sarbanes told CNN’s Ana Cabrera that he hopes Biden will use the bully pulpit of the presidency during his remarks today, to “lean in on these important issues of public policy. In this case, saving our democracy from the attacks that we’re seeing across the country on the right to vote… We very much hope to see the President leaning in hard on this, describing what the threat is. But also focusing attention on what the solution is.”

Sarbanes explained how the For the People Act is a key piece of voting rights legislation that could address “90% of the mischief we’re seeing when it comes to blocking people’s access.”

He said he hopes the President “speaks to the importance of that legislation, and starts to reach out to Capitol Hill in a meaningful way to encourage legislators, lawmakers, senators, to do what it takes to get this across the finish line.”

The For the People Act failed in the Senate last month after Republicans blocked the legislation.

A procedural vote to open debate on the legislation was defeated by a tally of 50-50, falling short of the 60 votes needed to succeed. Democrats were united in favor of the vote after securing support from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, but Republicans were united against it, causing the measure to fail to advance.

The group of Texas House Democrats in Washington, DC, currently do not have plans to meet with any Senate Republicans, according to a spokesperson for the Texas House Democratic Caucus.

With all 50 Senate Democrats already on board with voting rights legislation, it’s Republican support that’s needed for any legislation to pass. No Republican voted in favor of the For the People Act when it was brought to the Senate floor last month.

The group is scheduled to meet with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Alex Padilla, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand today — all Democrats who already support the voting rights legislation Texas Democrats hope to see passed into law.

Earlier today, standing in front of the US Capitol, the chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, Chris Turner, said one of the group’s goals while in Washington was to “implore the folks in this building behind us to pass federal voting rights legislation.”

When the Texas House gaveled in Tuesday morning, 57 of the 61 House Democrats were not in attendance. 

The Texas state Senate did have a quorum this morning with 22 members present. There were four Democrats on the floor when the Senate convened this morning.

Two additional members would have to leave to deny quorum in the Texas Senate (21 are needed for a quorum). 

By the end of today there will be nine Texas state senators in DC, state senator Carol Alvarado tells CNN. 

Alvarado is one of the senators in Washington, DC. Texas state House Democrats left the state yesterday in an effort to block Republicans from passing a restrictive new voting law in the remaining 27 days of the special legislative session called by the state’s GOP governor.