Hillary Clinton Calls New Election Laws 'Heartbreaking and Unacceptable' in Op-Ed

Albert Cara/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Hillary Clinton

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the fight for voting rights is a fight for democracy itself, writing in a new op-ed that each of a slew Republican-backed election laws are "egregious in its own right."

"We are witnessing a concerted attempt to destabilize the democratic process and delegitimize our multi-racial democracy, carried out in full view of the American people," Clinton, 73, writes in the op-ed, which was published Wednesday on the progressive outlet Democracy Docket.

According to the progressive-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, at least 17 state legislatures have enacted new laws that restrict voting access around the country which, as Clinton details in her editorial, amounts to "nearly 400 bills making it harder to vote" since the 2020 election.

As the former Democratic nominee for president explains, those laws do everything from "cutting back on early and absentee voting" to "banning giving out food or water to people waiting in line at the polls."

The result, Clinton argued, is a disproportionate impact on people of color.

"Each of these proposals disproportionately prevents people of color from casting their ballots, and each is egregious in its own right," Clinton wrote. "(They also pose a question: If your best strategy for winning elections is to block huge swaths of the electorate from voting, what does that say about the strength of your candidates and policies?)"

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Echoing criticism made by voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, Clinton further described the new laws aimed at voting as "no different from the Jim Crow past."

"It's heartbreaking and unacceptable that we once again find ourselves fighting the battles of the last two centuries," Clinton wrote. "Today's voting restrictions are no different from the Jim Crow past, replacing literacy tests and poll taxes with laws that, as one North Carolina judge put it in 2016, 'target African Americans with almost surgical precision.' "

Abrams, speaking about several controversial pieces of legislation on CNN's State of the Union, said in March that the bills are "racist.

"It is a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie," Abrams told CNN's Jake Tapper.

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Clinton ended her op-ed by imploring members of Congress to pass laws such as the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both of which proponents say would expand voting access.

Still, the former first lady argued that those measures are not enough, particularly in light of the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol after the former president claimed the election had been "stolen" from him.

"We need to call these attacks on voting what they are: part of a clear attempt to move away from a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy and toward white supremacist authoritarianism," Clinton wrote.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will focus on issues surrounding voting rights in events held Thursday. Both will also meet with leaders from a range of civil rights groups to discuss the matter, according to a schedule sent by the White House.