WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The White House is continuing its push to protect voting rights across the county.
Vice President Kamala Harris met with the Black Women’s Roundtable at the White House Friday to discuss the matter and push for voting rights.
“Black women will take the leadership but we need everyone in the fight,” said Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner with the National African American Clergy network.
Harris says the Biden administration is committed to working with civil rights groups to combat more than a dozen states’ efforts to change election rules.
“So much of this is not new and is going to require us to be tireless and committed and vigilant in fighting,” Harris said.
This weekend marks the one year anniversary of the death of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis. In cities around the nation more than 100 groups plan to mark the day with voting rights protests and vigils.
The Congressional Black Caucus chair Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, got an early start Thursday when she and a group of Black women were arrested after marching for voting rights in a Senate office building.
The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said the administration stands behind protestors and will continue to push Democrats’ voting legislation.
“We support anyone who peacefully protests,” Psaki said.
Republicans remain opposed to what they describe as federal takeover of elections.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., says Democrats are purposely misrepresenting the new state voting laws “as a way to paint everybody as a racist or not wanting communities of color to vote — that is so insulting to me.”