On Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met in Atlanta, Ga. to discuss the controversial voting laws and how they feel “it limits rights given in a democracy.” Gov. Brian Kemp defends the newest voting law, as he says, ‘“[the new law] makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Republicans believe the president should be applauding the state’s law as it calls for the same ID requirements for absentee voting as well as in-person voting. Many have been asserting their opinions through vocalizing the lesser chance of another voter fraud election. Kemp has been faced with a lawsuit by the Department of Justice saying the laws are “unfair to minority groups” and mentions he is ready to take them on in court.

The Democratic Party claims the new legislation is undemocratic. Biden believes that Republicans are using it “to suppress the vote” and place obstacles in the way of voters, and he wants to bring light to the situation. 

At a national level, the filibuster rule has raised many questions about future laws, and Biden announced that if the Senate “does not at least agree to debate the voting bills, then they must change the Senate rules such as the filibuster.” Under this rule, the Senate would need a 60 vote majority, which is notably difficult considering the Senate is composed of 100 Congressmen that are almost evenly divided amongst the two parties.

President Biden focuses on Georgia while discussing this issue as he claims, “The facts won’t matter. Your votes won’t matter; they will just decide what they want and then do it. That’s the kind of power you see in totalitarian states, not in democracies.” 

One Democrat, Rev. Al Sharpton, told Biden he made a monumental speech; however, he believes it needed to be done sooner. Holding off on a speech with such importance as this one can bring backlash, which was the case for the president. However, Democrats also claim it was “better late than never.” 

Overall, the country is split because of the uprising in controversy over the voting laws and many do not know who to believe; however, they all wish it would settle down and lead to lesser political conflict.