Vice Presidential Pool Reports of January 9, 2024

VP Pool report 1

Greetings from Atlanta,

The Vice President arrived at The Gathering Spot venue, on the outskirts of Georgia Tech’s campus, at 1:13 p.m. She plans to soon participate in a roundtable on voting rights with several well-known advocates and leaders. Pool hasn’t caught a glimpse of her as we await the start of the event.

A few dozen local dignitaries are gathered in a lobby, including U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath and Nikema Williams, and Calvin Smyre, the recently retired dean of the Georgia House.

VP travel pool report 2 -- roundtable remarks

Hi,

The VP addressed reporters for about 7 minutes before a private discussion with about a dozen voting rights advocates arranged in a semi-circle in an event space at The Gathering Spot.

I spotted several familiar faces sitting beside Harris, including U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath and Nikema Williams; Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown and New Georgia Project chief executive Kendra Cotton.

Harris referred to Georgia as "ground zero" for fights over ballot access, and she criticized the state's Republican-backed 2021 overhaul of election rules.

"Hypocrisy abounds," she said of GOP efforts to overhaul voting rules. She added that she met with local election workers earlier Tuesday, and said their stories were "so troubling."

"These are folks who, again, feel a sense of duty to their community. Love our country. And volunteer their time, in most cases, to serve and do the outreach with their neighbors. To let everyone that we're all in this together," she said. And yet, Harris added, they are sometimes confronted with "harassment and intimidation."

The VP also said she anticipated discussing "unfair maps" with the panelists, as several nodded in agreement. A federal judge recently upheld a GOP-backed reconfiguration of Georgia's congressional and legislative districts despite Democratic objections.

"I think we all agree that voters should be picking their politicians, their politicians shouldn't be picking their voters," said Harris.

And she invoked a Georgia law that allows mass challenges to voters' eligibility, saying it has been abused by "extremist groups."

"What that is intended to do is to bog up the system in a way that creates deterrence, slows down the process which we should all want and require, which is free and fair elections. And of course, again, it's voter intimidation."

Harris said there's much work ahead to counter what she called a "full-on intent to attack fundamental freedoms and rights in our country."

She ended her remarks with a shout-out to the victories of U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who ousted two GOP incumbents in runoffs held almost three years ago, as she encouraged the activists to keep up their work.

"We are inspired by what you've been doing here on the ground because we know that in spite of the obstacles, the people have expressed their desire and will to participate in the future of their country and their government."

Pool was ushered out, and the roundtable discussion continued behind closed doors.