Readout of Vice President Kamala Harris’s Convening With Voting Rights Leaders

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris convened her second meeting of 2024 with leaders who are on the frontlines of protecting voting rights and registering communities to vote.

During the discussion at the White House, the Vice President announced new steps that the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to ensure Americans have the information they need to vote, promote voter participation for students, protect election workers, and fight voter suppression laws. Additionally, she announced three National Days of Action on Voting – Juneteenth, the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and National Voter Registration Day – that will focus on voter engagement. While once again urging Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, Vice President Harris also encouraged voting rights leaders to continue to work with agencies from across the Administration to promote voting access for all communities.

The leaders in attendance shared their commitment to protecting voting rights across the country and to coordinating and collaborating on the National Days of Action on voting. They also gave an overview of their work to respond to the needs of their communities to address disparities in voter engagement and remove barriers to the ballot box. Additionally, leaders highlighted why it is critical to promote ongoing civic engagement, not only for Election Day, but also year-round.

The new steps that Vice President Harris announced include:

  • The Department of Health and Human Services is providing information about how to register to vote in follow-up emails to those who enroll in health care on HealthCare.gov.
  • The Social Security Administration will now display signs with Vote.gov in the lobbies of all Social Security offices. There are more than 1,200 offices across the country that see around six million visitors each year.
  • The Department of Interior will now display Vote.gov signage and information at the entrances and visitor centers of national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other federal public lands across the country. These sites received nearly 50o million visits last year. 
  • Federal Work Study funds can now be used to pay students to work as nonpartisan poll workers through federal, state, local, or tribal government offices, helping to address the shortage of poll workers that exists across America. 

The leaders who participated in today’s convening include:

  • Neera Tanden, Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor
  • Cliff Albright, Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter
  • Taylor Bennett-Begaye, Communications Manager and Native Youth Summit Project Manager of Protect the Sacred, Harness
  • Christine Chen, Co-Founder and Executive Director, APIAVote
  • Sakira Cook, Director of Federal Policy, Southern Poverty Law Center
  • Alma Couverthie, Chief of Programs & Interim Co-CEO, League of Women Voters
  • Jonathan Diaz, Director of Voting Advocacy and Partnerships, Campaign Legal Center
  • Scott Fay, President, Democracy SENTRY
  • Hannah Fried, Executive Director, All Voting is Local
  • Jerry Gonzalez, CEO, GALEO Latino Development Fund
  • Andrea Hailey, CEO, Vote.org
  • Amanda Hollowell, National Organizing Director, When We All Vote
  • Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, NAACP
  • María Teresa Kumar, Co-Founder, President, and CEO, Voto Latino
  • Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Partner, Lawrence & Bundy
  • Douglas Lindner, Senior Director of Judiciary & Democracy, League of Conservation Voters
  • Beth Lynk, Executive Director, When We All Vote
  • Neil Makhija, President, Indian American Impact; Commissioner, Montgomery County, PA
  • Santiago Mayer, Executive Director, Voters of Tomorrow
  • Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
  • W. Mondale Robinson, Founder and Principal, Black Male Voter Project
  • Lizzie Ulmer, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Communications, States United Democracy Center
  • Clarissa Unger, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Students Learn Students Vote Coalition
  • Katie Waldo, Managing Director of Volunteer Experience and Impact, We The Action
  • Wendy Weiser, Vice President for Democracy, Brennan Center for Justice
  • Maya Wiley, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

###

From title: THE WHITE HOUSE
Human Rights and Current Affairs: DoOurBest.org
Do our best to defend human rights.
Email:[email protected]