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"The right to vote is a given. All citizens have the right to vote."

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday promoted the Biden administration's efforts to protect voting rights as she met fellow Democrats from the Texas state legislature who last month blocked a bill they said would make it harder for Black and Hispanic Americans to vote.

"President Biden and myself and our administration will do everything in our power as an administration to lift up the voices of those who seek to preserve the right of the people to vote.”

President Joe Biden this month appointed Harris to lead the charge against Republican state lawmakers across the country seeking to enact voting restrictions...

that White House and civil rights groups say would make it harder for Americans to vote.

“What we are seeing are examples of an attempt to marginalize and take from people, a right that has already been given. We are not asking for the bestowal of a right. We are talking about the preservation of a right."

Along with Texas - 14 other U.S. states have enacted 22 laws this year that make it more difficult for Americans to vote, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The measures follow former Republican President Donald Trump's false claim that he lost the 2020 election due to widespread fraud.

The Texas Democrats who joined Harris staged a walkout in May to deprive Republicans of a quorum needed to pass a voting bill.

But Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, vowed to add the bill to a special legislative session later this year.

Under the Texas proposal, drive-through voting would no longer be allowed, early voting would be limited, 24-hour polling sites would be scrapped, and absentee ballots would be more difficult to cast.

To combat that bill and others - Harris plans to bring together elected officials and concerned Americans to build a coalition to work on voting rights and will seek legislation that improves access to the ballot box.