This is the last Boosting Harris post!
Although we could write a million of these (she is awesome), we’re not seeing the need to build enthusiasm in this way for Harris the way we did for Biden and his phenomenal achievements. We are all fired up!
Enjoy and thanks for reading this series, the Boosting Biden series, and the 100 Days of Biden.
Let’s do this!
MVP (Madam Vice-President and Most Valuable Player) Kamala Harris has always been dedicated to voting rights.
When she was attorney general for the state of California, she Endorsed Legislation to Expand Voting Rights:
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced her support for Assembly Bill 2466, legislation authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), which would ensure state law reflects a recent Superior Court ruling which restored voting rights to individuals serving time under community supervision. The bill would also expand voting rights to those serving a felony sentence in county jail.
“The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and society, and yet for too long we have stripped certain individuals of that right,” said Attorney General Harris. “I applaud Assemblymember Weber for her leadership on this issue, because more Californians should be able to fully and meaningfully rebuild their lives, reintegrate into society and participate in our democracy.”
As a US senator, Kamala Harris co-sponsored the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act proposed in 2020. That same year, she also introduced the VoteSafe Act to make it easier for people to vote during the pandemic. Of the second bill, she said:
As our country combats COVID-19, we’re also in the middle of an election year. It is critical that we meet voters where they are and ensure that all forms of voting are safe and accessible. That is why I am proud to partner with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Rep. Marcia Fudge to introduce the VoteSafe Act, which is centered on the experiences of communities that have long struggled with access to the ballot box.
One of the many things Harris did in her time as VP was take the White House lead on voting rights.
For example, she held a event in Washington in March 2022 to invite all kinds of advocates and community leaders to share their thoughts, ideas, and plans about voting access.
During that event she said:
Earlier this month, I was in Selma, like so many of us, to commemorate this year the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and to reaffirm that President Biden and I will continue to fight for the freedom to vote by continuing to push Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which, of course, I was proud to sponsor when I was as United States senator. And we are committed through what we can do to take executive action.
Today, I’m proud to be joined by representatives of the 11 executive agencies that have been working since that order was signed to create ambitious and affirmative ways to use their legal authority to accomplish our shared goals.
Today, they will provide detailed updates on those efforts and will solicit your perspective — your candid perspective is what we want and need — on these important steps moving forward so that we can ensure that they’re not only relevant but that they will hit the streets and have an impact.
A year ago, she launched a high-energy nationwide “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour” to mobilize students and young people in the fight for their rights, including voting rights.
Here’s part of the announcement from the launch:
As students across the nation return to school, Vice President Kamala Harris will embark on a month-long college tour throughout America to mobilize young people in the ongoing fight for fundamental freedoms and rights. She is set to visit around a dozen campuses in at least seven states as she brings together thousands of students for high-energy, large-scale events. The Vice President’s flurry of “Fight for Our Freedoms” stops will focus on key issues that disproportionately impact young people across the country — from reproductive freedom and gun safety to climate action, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and book bans.
“This generation is critical to the urgent issues that are at stake right now for our future,” said Vice President Harris. “It is young leaders throughout America who know what the solutions look like and are organizing in their communities to make them a reality. My message to students is clear: We are counting on you, we need you, you are everything.”
Vice President Harris’s “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour” will include visits to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, and state schools.
This past February Kamala Harris outlined a strategy to protect voting rights nationwide, as Democracy Docket explained:
Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the White House’s continued support for voting rights on Tuesday when she hosted a roundtable discussion with leaders and organizers leading the fight on the issue.
In a speech before the closed-press meeting, Harris outlined the White House’s four-part strategy to protect voting rights, describing voting as “a fundamental freedom that unlocks all the other freedoms.”
The strategy includes:
- Instructing federal agencies to do all they can to inform Americans on how to vote and when they are eligible.
- Promoting voter participation for students by allowing students to get paid to register voters and be poll workers through federal work-study.
- Protecting election workers by creating the Elections Threats Taskforce that has held more than 100 events to train officials on protecting election workers.
- Fighting voter suppression laws by challenging discriminatory laws in court via the U.S. Department of Justice.
Harris announced new developments in the strategy: the Health and Human Services Department has begun emailing voter registration information to every individual covered by the Affordable Care Act, and the Social Security Administration will display signs from Vote.gov in all of its offices. The Department of the Interior will also display Vote.gov information at national park entrances and visitors’ centers. [ . . . ]
The vice president closed by announcing “three national days of action” for voting to continue “work that is about uplifting communities, strengthening coalitions, strengthening communities around their power and ability to lead in their own communities.” The days include Juneteenth (June 19), the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (Aug. 6) and National Voter Registration Day (Sept. 17).
Kamala Harris is and will be a strong force for voting rights in the days and years ahead!
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These posts are written by Goodnewsroundup (Goodie),
edited by Matilda Briggs, supported by 2thanks and WolverineForTJatAW
and reinforced by several other notable Kossacks!
As with all good things, it takes a village.
