The vice president tried to back her claim by saying rural communities don’t have Kinkos or OfficeMax
Vice President Kamala Harris was criticized Saturday for arguing against voter ID laws because rural Americans couldn’t get photocopies of their ID’s.
“I don’t think that we should underestimate what that [compromise on voter ID laws] could mean,” Harris said in her interview with BET News. “Because in some people’s mind, that means you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove who you are. Well, there are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don’t – there’s no Kinkos, there’s no OfficeMax near them.”
“Of course people have to prove who they are,” Harris continued, but “not in a way that makes it almost impossible for them to prove who they are.”
The vice president’s comments come in the midst of a nationwide battle over voter ID laws, with states like Georgia and Texas taking center stage. Many progressives argue that voter ID laws are “racist,” while Republicans suggest the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud.
Rural Americans took issue with the vice president’s comments, suggesting she is out of touch with the nation.
“We built this country. We can manage to photocopy our ID’s,” tweeted former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright.
BDW on X (formerly Twitter): “Rural American here.We built this country. We can manage to photocopy our IDs. https://t.co/GQFIqKM2d6 / X”
Rural American here.We built this country. We can manage to photocopy our IDs. https://t.co/GQFIqKM2d6
Chris Barron 🇺🇸 on X (formerly Twitter): “Hi, I live on top of a mountain on the WV/VA border and I can photocopy my ID. I mean I do it while moonshining White Lightning while dueling banjos play in the background but I can still do it. https://t.co/clxtK5NmRU / X”
Hi, I live on top of a mountain on the WV/VA border and I can photocopy my ID. I mean I do it while moonshining White Lightning while dueling banjos play in the background but I can still do it. https://t.co/clxtK5NmRU
Others questioned Harris’ comments that people had to prove who they were, but “not in ways that make it impossible to prove who they are.”
“No one is buying this ridiculous argument against Voter ID,” tweeted veteran and Pennsylvania Senate candidate Sean Parnell. “The vast majority of Americans support it. Let’s get it done.”
Sean Parnell on X (formerly Twitter): “”Of course people have to prove who they are. But not in ways that make it impossible to prove who they are.”Uhh wut….? 🤔🤔No one is buying this ridiculous argument against Voter ID. The vast majority of Americans support it.Let’s get it done. https://t.co/EZnHvytXm5 / X”
“Of course people have to prove who they are. But not in ways that make it impossible to prove who they are.”Uhh wut….? 🤔🤔No one is buying this ridiculous argument against Voter ID. The vast majority of Americans support it.Let’s get it done. https://t.co/EZnHvytXm5
Monica Crowley on X (formerly Twitter): “They keep trying to reset her and it keeps getting worse https://t.co/5MLfdipQ9u / X”
They keep trying to reset her and it keeps getting worse https://t.co/5MLfdipQ9u
Last month, President Biden announced that he tapped Harris to lead the White House’s fight to expand access to the ballot box, an issue the vice president told BET News she specifically asked to lead. In the same interview, though, Harris noted that she may have not said “‘no’ enough” to the multiple assignments from Biden, but that she is used to “multitasking”
Polling data from the Associated Press shows that most Americans support laws requiring photo identification to access the ballot box, with a majority of both Republicans and Democrats backing the idea. Overall, 72% of American adults support requiring photo identification to vote.
Harris’ comments came during the BET special titled “State of Our Union: Vice President Kamala Harris” that aired on Friday. The interview also touched on coronavirus vaccine rates and police reform.
