Former President Obama on Friday blasted voting laws being pushed by Republicans across the country, suggesting that lawmakers championing such electoral changes are “rigging the game.”
“That’s the kind of dangerous behavior that we’re going to have to push back on,” Obama said during an event with the Economic Club of Chicago while mentioning a GOP voting law enacted in Georgia law month.
Obama said that the law creates “a different set of rules for how votes are counted in Atlanta versus how they’re counted in the rest of Georgia.”
The former Democratic president’s comments come as multiple GOP-led state legislatures have moved to overhaul existing voting laws and implement new restrictions that some have condemned as making it harder for Americans to exercise their right to vote.
The former president also called on corporate organizations to call out legislation that does not align with democracy.
“I think the corporate community has a responsibility to at least call folks out on that. Because that transcends policy,” he said. “This really has to do with the basic rules by which we have all agreed to keep this diverse and multiracial democracy functioning.”
“Are we going to stick to those rules or are we going to start rigging the game in a way that breaks it?” he continued. “And that’s not going to be good for business, not to mention not good for our soul.”
This article was originally published by the Hill. Read the original article.
ThinkCivics researches, examines, and reports on issues that matter most. We deliver explanative, fearless, and insightful analysis for public consumption.
