Biden attacks Republicans: Aren't you ashamed?

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday lobbied Republican lawmakers to join Democratic legislation that would protect voter rights from new state laws that would restrict voting.

"We will ask my Republican friends in Congress, states, cities, and counties to stand up for God and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and our sacred right to vote," Biden said in a letter.

Addressing Republicans, Biden asked, "Aren't you ashamed? This isn't about Democrats or Republicans. It's literally about who we are as Americans. It's fundamental. It's about the kind of country we want today."

He continued, "Hear me clearly. There is an attack unfolding in America today, an attempt to suppress and sabotage the right to vote in fair elections."

"We face the biggest test of our democracy since the Civil War," the US president emphasized.

Biden criticized Republican lawmakers who went ahead with laws restricting access to the ballot box in the name of "electoral oversight."

"For me it's simple, it's electoral censorship, and the biggest threat to the integrity of a free and fair election in our history," he said.

"They (Republicans) want the ability to reject the final vote and ignore the will of the people if their favorite candidate loses," he added.

Biden compared the behavior of Republicans to autocratic regimes, and said, "We must support our democratic system and confront the threats of electoral oversight, not only from abroad, which is something I spent time talking about with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, but also from home."

"From home, we have to ask our representatives in the federal or local government 'Will you ignore the will of the people? Will you ignore their voices? Are you on the side of truth or lies? Facts or fiction? Justice or injustice? Democracy or autocracy? ".

The US President's speech coincided with the urgent departure of dozens of Texas Democratic representatives from the southern US state, on Tuesday, to prevent the passage of a controversial electoral law wanted by the Republican majority in the local parliament.

Texas law allows absent state lawmakers to be arrested during voting sessions and made to appear at the Houses of Parliament.

This prompted these representatives to travel to a place where the Texas police had no authority to intervene.

At the end of May, Democratic lawmakers also undermined the passage of this law on regulating polling, which Biden described as an "attack on democracy."

Officially, the law aims to make elections safer by placing many restrictions on voting hours and postal voting.

A similar law has been passed in Georgia and Florida.

However, these restrictions often target arrangements that facilitate voting by minorities, particularly blacks, who usually support Democrats.

Since the last presidential election, bills imposing new limits on suffrage in states have proliferated on the initiative of Republicans.

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