JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to the growing fight over
voting access in this country.

Georgia is at the center of the conflict.
And Stacey Abrams is a driving force behind

change there.

Earlier today, Abrams was honored at the National
Democratic Institute's Madeleine K. Albright

event celebrating women's empowerment.

She spoke with our Amna Nawaz about the challenges
of maintaining a healthy democracy.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'd like to begin in Texas with
some news today, where a number of corporations,

huge corporations, like Hewlett-Packard and
Microsoft and others, are explicitly calling

for expanded voting rights and voting access
in response to Republican proposals that would

limit that access.

And we have seen similar efforts, of course,
in Georgia and other places. I'm curious about

what you think it is right now, about this
moment in U.S. history that is pulling some

of these companies off the sidelines and into
the fight to protect voting rights?

STACEY ABRAMS, Founder, Fair Fight: What we
saw in January of 2021, the juxtaposition

of the election of Raphael Warnock and Jon
Ossoff, the first Black senator from Georgia,

the first Jewish senator from Georgia, eclipsed
hours later by sedition seditionists who stormed

the Capitol and murdered law enforcement officers,
this insurrection, has now taken root in our

states.

And this is no longer a question of partisanship.
It is not a question of which party is electing

their leaders. It's a question of citizenship,
who has the right to be heard in our nation.

And while we, unfortunately, had silence during
much of the debate here in Georgia, I believe

the amplification of that issue and the ability
to point out the direct connection, the DNA

between denying access to the right to vote
and the changing of outcomes for the most

vulnerable communities is why we're hearing
corporations speak out more forcefully and

precipitously.

What's happening in Texas is important because
what it signals is that we are no longer viewing

voting rights as simply a question of partisanship.
We are seeing it as a question of peopleship.

The quality of our democracy is dictated not
by the people who have the easiest time voting,

but how hard we're willing to work to make
certain that no one has a difficult time casting

a ballot.

AMNA NAWAZ: We know, of course, that there
are hundreds of new laws that would similarly

restrict access, access that had been introduced
and proposed in dozens of states across the

country.

What do you think the impact of those laws
could be when you look ahead specifically

to the midterm elections? Are you concerned
that Democrats could actually lose control

of the House and Senate as a result of those?

STACEY ABRAMS: Yes, as a partisan, I am concerned
about whether my party, which tends to be

over-representative of communities of color,
of communities that are disadvantaged and

marginalized, that the party to which I pledge
allegiance, or at least I have given my fealty,

that the party could lose.

But I honestly want us to return to the fundamentals
of voting. In a nation like the U.S., with

its changing demography, if the response to
increased participation by communities of

color, by young people, by women, if their
response is to restrict their access and impede

their participation, that is a very, very
strong signal that we are heading in the wrong

direction, and that our democracy is not safe,
it is not sound, and it is not resilient.

We have to be better than that.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let me ask you about how
the efforts could be brought in to protect

those voting rights, then, because we see
these are largely Republican-led efforts to

restrict that voting access.

Do you believe that Democrats are right now
doing everything they can, using every tool

in the toolkit to protect that voting access?

STACEY ABRAMS: I think, on the state level,
you are seeing so many people come together

to fight against these bills.

That's one of the reasons it is a popular
topic of conversation. It's because we have

made it a necessary part of dinner conversation,
that this is no longer an annoyance that happens

and disappears on Election Day, but that this
is about the fundamentals of how our democracy

works.

But I also know that we require federal legislation.
Article 1, Section 4, the Elections Clause,

in the U.S. Constitution delegates to the
states the right to administer elections,

but it reserves to Congress the ability to
set baselines and foundations.

And so we need to pass the For the People
Act. We need to pass the John Lewis Voting

Rights Advancement Act. I am pleased that
the Senate is -- seems to be making progress,

that there is conversation. This is going
to take time.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let me ask you this about
that bill, then. As it sits with the Senate,

we know that the majority leader, Chuck Schumer,
has said it probably has an August deadline.

Do you believe that advancing that bill, a
sweeping voting rights bill, should be the

priority for this administration, for this
president for his next 100 days?

STACEY ABRAMS: I think it is absolutely a
central centerpiece of his initiative.

I would not, however, say that we can afford
to abandon his -- the importance of fighting

for the American Jobs Act, fighting for the
American Family Act, in part because the reason

we vote -- and I want to be very clear about
this. We vote not because of the act of casting

a ballot. We vote for the policies that follow
after, for the ways that our government helps

make our lives, if not easier, then at least
improves our access to increasing our opportunity.

And so the absolute result of what we saw
happen in 2020 and 2021 are the bills that

we see moving, those priority bills that the
president and his Cabinet are speaking about

all over this country.

But, at the exact same time, we must protect
the very mechanism that makes those policies

possible. And that is the passage of the For
the People Act, particularly the voting rights

component.

AMNA NAWAZ: Stacey Abrams, I thank you very
much for your time, for this conversation.

And congratulations again on the honor.

STACEY ABRAMS: Thank you so much, Amna.