Stacey Abrams: ‘We Are at War’ with GOP Attempting to ‘Deny Access to the Ballot’

Failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that Democrats were “at war” with state Republicans lawmakers forwarding bills addressing voting and members of Congress who do not support the Democrats voting legislation.

Abrams said, “We are seeing it play out in the most grotesque way possible because across the country, in 40 legislative bodies, we are watching attempts to roll back the right to vote. Because to put it simply, Republicans believe too many people voted. They believe too many eligible voters chose other than their candidates, and because of that, they’re going to be punished by being denied the right to vote.”

She continued, “Their intention is to disenfranchise those voters who routinely demonstrated they do not share Republican ideology or Republican orthodox. The challenge is not only are they going to disproportionately harm communities of color when you break democracy. You break it for everyone.”

She added, “We’re watching a response to insurrection and a challenge to that democracy, not be solidifying our belief in who should be able to vote by encouraging as many people as possible. We’re watching a retrenchment to the worst moments in our national history, and that is post-Civil War, Jim Crow-era laws that intently disenfranchise the most vulnerable and marginalized in our society.”

She concluded, “We should have a baseline where no state should be allowed to deny access to the ballot. That’s the reason the election clause exists and so critical we not only have HR1 and SR1 but HR4, which is the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that will be necessary to remedy whatever the U.S. Supreme Court does this coming week regarding the issue of Section Two of the Voting Rights Act. We are at war fighting to protect our democracy from domestic enemies at this moment. Those domestic enemies should be renounced. They should be pushed back against whether they are at the state level or federal level. It’s our responsibility in the wake of January 6th to hold fast to our belief and our democracy and to ensure every eligible voter can cast a ballot and have that ballot counted.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN