WEBVTT 00:00.390 --> 00:04.520 position:10% line:50% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to the growing fight over voting access in this country. 00:04.520 --> 00:09.370 position:10% line:50% size:80% Georgia is at the center of the conflict. And Stacey Abrams is a driving force behind 00:09.370 --> 00:10.470 position:10% line:50% size:80% change there. 00:10.470 --> 00:16.170 position:10% line:50% size:80% Earlier today, Abrams was honored at the National Democratic Institute's Madeleine K. Albright 00:16.170 --> 00:19.029 position:10% line:50% size:80% event celebrating women's empowerment. 00:19.029 --> 00:23.749 position:10% line:50% size:80% She spoke with our Amna Nawaz about the challenges of maintaining a healthy democracy. 00:23.749 --> 00:29.130 position:10% line:50% size:80% AMNA NAWAZ: I'd like to begin in Texas with some news today, where a number of corporations, 00:29.130 --> 00:33.870 position:10% line:50% size:80% huge corporations, like Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft and others, are explicitly calling 00:33.870 --> 00:39.399 position:10% line:50% size:80% for expanded voting rights and voting access in response to Republican proposals that would 00:39.399 --> 00:40.399 position:10% line:50% size:80% limit that access. 00:40.399 --> 00:44.700 position:10% line:50% size:80% And we have seen similar efforts, of course, in Georgia and other places. I'm curious about 00:44.700 --> 00:50.019 position:10% line:50% size:80% what you think it is right now, about this moment in U.S. history that is pulling some 00:50.019 --> 00:54.370 position:10% line:50% size:80% of these companies off the sidelines and into the fight to protect voting rights? 00:54.370 --> 00:59.289 position:10% line:50% size:80% STACEY ABRAMS, Founder, Fair Fight: What we saw in January of 2021, the juxtaposition 00:59.289 --> 01:04.710 position:10% line:50% size:80% of the election of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the first Black senator from Georgia, 01:04.710 --> 01:10.980 position:10% line:50% size:80% the first Jewish senator from Georgia, eclipsed hours later by sedition seditionists who stormed 01:10.980 --> 01:17.990 position:10% line:50% size:80% the Capitol and murdered law enforcement officers, this insurrection, has now taken root in our 01:17.990 --> 01:19.420 position:10% line:50% size:80% states. 01:19.420 --> 01:24.290 position:10% line:50% size:80% And this is no longer a question of partisanship. It is not a question of which party is electing 01:24.290 --> 01:30.229 position:10% line:50% size:80% their leaders. It's a question of citizenship, who has the right to be heard in our nation. 01:30.229 --> 01:35.520 position:10% line:50% size:80% And while we, unfortunately, had silence during much of the debate here in Georgia, I believe 01:35.520 --> 01:42.340 position:10% line:50% size:80% the amplification of that issue and the ability to point out the direct connection, the DNA 01:42.340 --> 01:47.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% between denying access to the right to vote and the changing of outcomes for the most 01:47.310 --> 01:52.130 position:10% line:50% size:80% vulnerable communities is why we're hearing corporations speak out more forcefully and 01:52.130 --> 01:53.799 position:10% line:50% size:80% precipitously. 01:53.799 --> 01:59.000 position:10% line:50% size:80% What's happening in Texas is important because what it signals is that we are no longer viewing 01:59.000 --> 02:04.610 position:10% line:50% size:80% voting rights as simply a question of partisanship. We are seeing it as a question of peopleship. 02:04.610 --> 02:10.660 position:10% line:50% size:80% The quality of our democracy is dictated not by the people who have the easiest time voting, 02:10.660 --> 02:14.490 position:10% line:50% size:80% but how hard we're willing to work to make certain that no one has a difficult time casting 02:14.490 --> 02:15.490 position:10% line:50% size:80% a ballot. 02:15.490 --> 02:18.150 position:10% line:50% size:80% AMNA NAWAZ: We know, of course, that there are hundreds of new laws that would similarly 02:18.150 --> 02:22.989 position:10% line:50% size:80% restrict access, access that had been introduced and proposed in dozens of states across the 02:22.989 --> 02:23.989 position:10% line:50% size:80% country. 02:23.989 --> 02:28.010 position:10% line:50% size:80% What do you think the impact of those laws could be when you look ahead specifically 02:28.010 --> 02:31.640 position:10% line:50% size:80% to the midterm elections? Are you concerned that Democrats could actually lose control 02:31.640 --> 02:33.130 position:10% line:50% size:80% of the House and Senate as a result of those? 02:33.130 --> 02:39.750 position:10% line:50% size:80% STACEY ABRAMS: Yes, as a partisan, I am concerned about whether my party, which tends to be 02:39.750 --> 02:44.970 position:10% line:50% size:80% over-representative of communities of color, of communities that are disadvantaged and 02:44.970 --> 02:51.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% marginalized, that the party to which I pledge allegiance, or at least I have given my fealty, 02:51.310 --> 02:52.860 position:10% line:50% size:80% that the party could lose. 02:52.860 --> 02:57.409 position:10% line:50% size:80% But I honestly want us to return to the fundamentals of voting. In a nation like the U.S., with 02:57.409 --> 03:02.990 position:10% line:50% size:80% its changing demography, if the response to increased participation by communities of 03:02.990 --> 03:08.260 position:10% line:50% size:80% color, by young people, by women, if their response is to restrict their access and impede 03:08.260 --> 03:13.030 position:10% line:50% size:80% their participation, that is a very, very strong signal that we are heading in the wrong 03:13.030 --> 03:18.819 position:10% line:50% size:80% direction, and that our democracy is not safe, it is not sound, and it is not resilient. 03:18.819 --> 03:20.159 position:10% line:50% size:80% We have to be better than that. 03:20.159 --> 03:24.150 position:10% line:50% size:80% AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let me ask you about how the efforts could be brought in to protect 03:24.150 --> 03:27.670 position:10% line:50% size:80% those voting rights, then, because we see these are largely Republican-led efforts to 03:27.670 --> 03:29.480 position:10% line:50% size:80% restrict that voting access. 03:29.480 --> 03:33.939 position:10% line:50% size:80% Do you believe that Democrats are right now doing everything they can, using every tool 03:33.939 --> 03:36.840 position:10% line:50% size:80% in the toolkit to protect that voting access? 03:36.840 --> 03:41.780 position:10% line:50% size:80% STACEY ABRAMS: I think, on the state level, you are seeing so many people come together 03:41.780 --> 03:43.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% to fight against these bills. 03:43.310 --> 03:47.780 position:10% line:50% size:80% That's one of the reasons it is a popular topic of conversation. It's because we have 03:47.780 --> 03:54.170 position:10% line:50% size:80% made it a necessary part of dinner conversation, that this is no longer an annoyance that happens 03:54.170 --> 03:58.720 position:10% line:50% size:80% and disappears on Election Day, but that this is about the fundamentals of how our democracy 03:58.720 --> 03:59.720 position:10% line:50% size:80% works. 03:59.720 --> 04:05.330 position:10% line:50% size:80% But I also know that we require federal legislation. Article 1, Section 4, the Elections Clause, 04:05.330 --> 04:10.500 position:10% line:50% size:80% in the U.S. Constitution delegates to the states the right to administer elections, 04:10.500 --> 04:15.140 position:10% line:50% size:80% but it reserves to Congress the ability to set baselines and foundations. 04:15.140 --> 04:18.970 position:10% line:50% size:80% And so we need to pass the For the People Act. We need to pass the John Lewis Voting 04:18.970 --> 04:24.940 position:10% line:50% size:80% Rights Advancement Act. I am pleased that the Senate is -- seems to be making progress, 04:24.940 --> 04:27.600 position:10% line:50% size:80% that there is conversation. This is going to take time. 04:27.600 --> 04:31.030 position:10% line:50% size:80% AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let me ask you this about that bill, then. As it sits with the Senate, 04:31.030 --> 04:35.010 position:10% line:50% size:80% we know that the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has said it probably has an August deadline. 04:35.010 --> 04:40.050 position:10% line:50% size:80% Do you believe that advancing that bill, a sweeping voting rights bill, should be the 04:40.050 --> 04:43.670 position:10% line:50% size:80% priority for this administration, for this president for his next 100 days? 04:43.670 --> 04:48.600 position:10% line:50% size:80% STACEY ABRAMS: I think it is absolutely a central centerpiece of his initiative. 04:48.600 --> 04:55.450 position:10% line:50% size:80% I would not, however, say that we can afford to abandon his -- the importance of fighting 04:55.450 --> 05:00.950 position:10% line:50% size:80% for the American Jobs Act, fighting for the American Family Act, in part because the reason 05:00.950 --> 05:06.390 position:10% line:50% size:80% we vote -- and I want to be very clear about this. We vote not because of the act of casting 05:06.390 --> 05:12.810 position:10% line:50% size:80% a ballot. We vote for the policies that follow after, for the ways that our government helps 05:12.810 --> 05:19.100 position:10% line:50% size:80% make our lives, if not easier, then at least improves our access to increasing our opportunity. 05:19.100 --> 05:25.160 position:10% line:50% size:80% And so the absolute result of what we saw happen in 2020 and 2021 are the bills that 05:25.160 --> 05:30.510 position:10% line:50% size:80% we see moving, those priority bills that the president and his Cabinet are speaking about 05:30.510 --> 05:31.580 position:10% line:50% size:80% all over this country. 05:31.580 --> 05:37.080 position:10% line:50% size:80% But, at the exact same time, we must protect the very mechanism that makes those policies 05:37.080 --> 05:42.120 position:10% line:50% size:80% possible. And that is the passage of the For the People Act, particularly the voting rights 05:42.120 --> 05:43.120 position:10% line:50% size:80% component. 05:43.120 --> 05:47.310 position:10% line:50% size:80% AMNA NAWAZ: Stacey Abrams, I thank you very much for your time, for this conversation. 05:47.310 --> 05:49.230 position:10% line:50% size:80% And congratulations again on the honor. 05:49.230 --> 05:50.330 position:10% line:50% size:80% STACEY ABRAMS: Thank you so much, Amna.