1 00:00:00,390 --> 00:00:04,520 JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to the growing fight over voting access in this country. 2 00:00:04,520 --> 00:00:09,370 Georgia is at the center of the conflict. And Stacey Abrams is a driving force behind 3 00:00:09,370 --> 00:00:10,470 change there. 4 00:00:10,470 --> 00:00:16,170 Earlier today, Abrams was honored at the National Democratic Institute's Madeleine K. Albright 5 00:00:16,170 --> 00:00:19,029 event celebrating women's empowerment. 6 00:00:19,029 --> 00:00:23,749 She spoke with our Amna Nawaz about the challenges of maintaining a healthy democracy. 7 00:00:23,749 --> 00:00:29,130 AMNA NAWAZ: I'd like to begin in Texas with some news today, where a number of corporations, 8 00:00:29,130 --> 00:00:33,870 huge corporations, like Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft and others, are explicitly calling 9 00:00:33,870 --> 00:00:39,399 for expanded voting rights and voting access in response to Republican proposals that would 10 00:00:39,399 --> 00:00:40,399 limit that access. 11 00:00:40,399 --> 00:00:44,700 And we have seen similar efforts, of course, in Georgia and other places. I'm curious about 12 00:00:44,700 --> 00:00:50,019 what you think it is right now, about this moment in U.S. history that is pulling some 13 00:00:50,019 --> 00:00:54,370 of these companies off the sidelines and into the fight to protect voting rights? 14 00:00:54,370 --> 00:00:59,289 STACEY ABRAMS, Founder, Fair Fight: What we saw in January of 2021, the juxtaposition 15 00:00:59,289 --> 00:01:04,710 of the election of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the first Black senator from Georgia, 16 00:01:04,710 --> 00:01:10,980 the first Jewish senator from Georgia, eclipsed hours later by sedition seditionists who stormed 17 00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:17,990 the Capitol and murdered law enforcement officers, this insurrection, has now taken root in our 18 00:01:17,990 --> 00:01:19,420 states. 19 00:01:19,420 --> 00:01:24,290 And this is no longer a question of partisanship. It is not a question of which party is electing 20 00:01:24,290 --> 00:01:30,229 their leaders. It's a question of citizenship, who has the right to be heard in our nation. 21 00:01:30,229 --> 00:01:35,520 And while we, unfortunately, had silence during much of the debate here in Georgia, I believe 22 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:42,340 the amplification of that issue and the ability to point out the direct connection, the DNA 23 00:01:42,340 --> 00:01:47,310 between denying access to the right to vote and the changing of outcomes for the most 24 00:01:47,310 --> 00:01:52,130 vulnerable communities is why we're hearing corporations speak out more forcefully and 25 00:01:52,130 --> 00:01:53,799 precipitously. 26 00:01:53,799 --> 00:01:59,000 What's happening in Texas is important because what it signals is that we are no longer viewing 27 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:04,610 voting rights as simply a question of partisanship. We are seeing it as a question of peopleship. 28 00:02:04,610 --> 00:02:10,660 The quality of our democracy is dictated not by the people who have the easiest time voting, 29 00:02:10,660 --> 00:02:14,490 but how hard we're willing to work to make certain that no one has a difficult time casting 30 00:02:14,490 --> 00:02:15,490 a ballot. 31 00:02:15,490 --> 00:02:18,150 AMNA NAWAZ: We know, of course, that there are hundreds of new laws that would similarly 32 00:02:18,150 --> 00:02:22,989 restrict access, access that had been introduced and proposed in dozens of states across the 33 00:02:22,989 --> 00:02:23,989 country. 34 00:02:23,989 --> 00:02:28,010 What do you think the impact of those laws could be when you look ahead specifically 35 00:02:28,010 --> 00:02:31,640 to the midterm elections? Are you concerned that Democrats could actually lose control 36 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:33,130 of the House and Senate as a result of those? 37 00:02:33,130 --> 00:02:39,750 STACEY ABRAMS: Yes, as a partisan, I am concerned about whether my party, which tends to be 38 00:02:39,750 --> 00:02:44,970 over-representative of communities of color, of communities that are disadvantaged and 39 00:02:44,970 --> 00:02:51,310 marginalized, that the party to which I pledge allegiance, or at least I have given my fealty, 40 00:02:51,310 --> 00:02:52,860 that the party could lose. 41 00:02:52,860 --> 00:02:57,409 But I honestly want us to return to the fundamentals of voting. In a nation like the U.S., with 42 00:02:57,409 --> 00:03:02,990 its changing demography, if the response to increased participation by communities of 43 00:03:02,990 --> 00:03:08,260 color, by young people, by women, if their response is to restrict their access and impede 44 00:03:08,260 --> 00:03:13,030 their participation, that is a very, very strong signal that we are heading in the wrong 45 00:03:13,030 --> 00:03:18,819 direction, and that our democracy is not safe, it is not sound, and it is not resilient. 46 00:03:18,819 --> 00:03:20,159 We have to be better than that. 47 00:03:20,159 --> 00:03:24,150 AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let me ask you about how the efforts could be brought in to protect 48 00:03:24,150 --> 00:03:27,670 those voting rights, then, because we see these are largely Republican-led efforts to 49 00:03:27,670 --> 00:03:29,480 restrict that voting access. 50 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,939 Do you believe that Democrats are right now doing everything they can, using every tool 51 00:03:33,939 --> 00:03:36,840 in the toolkit to protect that voting access? 52 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,780 STACEY ABRAMS: I think, on the state level, you are seeing so many people come together 53 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:43,310 to fight against these bills. 54 00:03:43,310 --> 00:03:47,780 That's one of the reasons it is a popular topic of conversation. It's because we have 55 00:03:47,780 --> 00:03:54,170 made it a necessary part of dinner conversation, that this is no longer an annoyance that happens 56 00:03:54,170 --> 00:03:58,720 and disappears on Election Day, but that this is about the fundamentals of how our democracy 57 00:03:58,720 --> 00:03:59,720 works. 58 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:05,330 But I also know that we require federal legislation. Article 1, Section 4, the Elections Clause, 59 00:04:05,330 --> 00:04:10,500 in the U.S. Constitution delegates to the states the right to administer elections, 60 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:15,140 but it reserves to Congress the ability to set baselines and foundations. 61 00:04:15,140 --> 00:04:18,970 And so we need to pass the For the People Act. We need to pass the John Lewis Voting 62 00:04:18,970 --> 00:04:24,940 Rights Advancement Act. I am pleased that the Senate is -- seems to be making progress, 63 00:04:24,940 --> 00:04:27,600 that there is conversation. This is going to take time. 64 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,030 AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let me ask you this about that bill, then. As it sits with the Senate, 65 00:04:31,030 --> 00:04:35,010 we know that the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has said it probably has an August deadline. 66 00:04:35,010 --> 00:04:40,050 Do you believe that advancing that bill, a sweeping voting rights bill, should be the 67 00:04:40,050 --> 00:04:43,670 priority for this administration, for this president for his next 100 days? 68 00:04:43,670 --> 00:04:48,600 STACEY ABRAMS: I think it is absolutely a central centerpiece of his initiative. 69 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:55,450 I would not, however, say that we can afford to abandon his -- the importance of fighting 70 00:04:55,450 --> 00:05:00,950 for the American Jobs Act, fighting for the American Family Act, in part because the reason 71 00:05:00,950 --> 00:05:06,390 we vote -- and I want to be very clear about this. We vote not because of the act of casting 72 00:05:06,390 --> 00:05:12,810 a ballot. We vote for the policies that follow after, for the ways that our government helps 73 00:05:12,810 --> 00:05:19,100 make our lives, if not easier, then at least improves our access to increasing our opportunity. 74 00:05:19,100 --> 00:05:25,160 And so the absolute result of what we saw happen in 2020 and 2021 are the bills that 75 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:30,510 we see moving, those priority bills that the president and his Cabinet are speaking about 76 00:05:30,510 --> 00:05:31,580 all over this country. 77 00:05:31,580 --> 00:05:37,080 But, at the exact same time, we must protect the very mechanism that makes those policies 78 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:42,120 possible. And that is the passage of the For the People Act, particularly the voting rights 79 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:43,120 component. 80 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:47,310 AMNA NAWAZ: Stacey Abrams, I thank you very much for your time, for this conversation. 81 00:05:47,310 --> 00:05:49,230 And congratulations again on the honor. 82 00:05:49,230 --> 00:05:50,330 STACEY ABRAMS: Thank you so much, Amna.