Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris is calling on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act ahead of the November election.
Sen. Harris (D-Calif.) made the congressional call to action in an op-ed published Wednesday by the Washington Post, in which she marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
“We know what we have to do to fulfill the promise embodied in the 19th Amendment: We need to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, support automatic and same-day voter registration and help fund secure state voting systems. And that is what Joe Biden and I will do when we’re in the White House,” the vice presidential hopeful wrote.
Harris, the first woman of color to be nominated for the vice presidency, went on to warn that change “cannot wait until then,” before accusing the Republican party of attempts at voter suppression.
“They are deploying suppressive voter ID laws, racial gerrymandering, voter roll purges, precinct closures and reduced early-voting days — all of which have been laser-targeted toward communities of color since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013,” she claimed.
Harris is not the first prominent Democrat who has called for the act to be pushed through the Senate.
While speaking at Lewis’ funeral, former President Obama also called on Congress to rename the bill for the civil rights icon and pass it in his honor.
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