Vice President Harris called election measures in Georgia and Texas “inhumane” and pushed for national standards on voting while speaking at an event Tuesday to mark National Voter Registration Day.
“We got to do something about putting teeth back in the voter, the Voting Rights Act, right? But we also need to deal with the fact that we need to have some national standards,” Harris said in remarks at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. “So states like Texas and Georgia can’t just go on and say—it’s inhumane—you can’t give food or water to people in the [lines] standing.”
Harris told a class of 13 students that the right to vote is under threat. President Biden put the vice president in charge of the administration’s efforts to protect voting rights in June.
“On this National Voter Registration Day, I’m here to talk about where we are in connection with what you have demonstrated as your ability to organize the power of your vote, but also in a climate where the right to vote is being threatened, because there are laws that are being passed to make it more difficult to vote so you don’t,” she said.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed legislation in March that would make it illegal for people to provide water and food for voters waiting in line before casting their ballots, comparing giving food and water to giving gifts to voters. Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) also signed a bill to increase the requirements for identification that voters must show when they cast a ballot, among other provisions.
In response to a student’s question about how take away the stigma of division in politics, Harris replied, “elections matter.”
“Don’t let them turn us off, while important decisions are being made about our life,” she said.