民主党人抓住佐治亚州新的投票限制，将注意力集中在改革联邦政府的斗争上选举法律，建立了一个缓慢建立的僵局，带来了半个世纪前民权斗争的回声。

在激烈的演讲、尖锐的声明和推特上，该党领导人周五谴责该州共和党州长前一天签署的法律，认为该法律专门旨在压制黑人和拉丁美洲人的选票，是对民主的威胁。共和国总统乔·拜登发表了一份声明，称该法律是对“良知”的攻击，剥夺了“无数”美国人的投票权。

“这是21世纪的吉姆·克劳，”拜登说，他指的是上个世纪在南方实施严厉种族隔离的法律。

“必须结束了。我们有道德和宪法义务采取行动，”他说。他告诉记者，佐治亚州的法律是一种“暴行”，司法部正在对此进行调查。

佐治亚州共和党州长布赖恩·肯普(Brian Kemp)进行了回击，指责拜登试图通过支持州长认为的联邦对州责任的干涉来“破坏投票箱的神圣性和安全性”。

在众怒的背后，民主党人也在努力解决他们在华盛顿的权力限制问题，只要参议院阻挠议事规则允许共和党人阻止重大立法，包括全民公决选举该法案目前在参议院悬而未决。

拜登和他的政党正在寻求在公众舆论领域建立和保持势头——希望将迄今为止由共和党领导的逐州运动国有化，以限制投票渠道——同时开始一个缓慢、缓慢的立法过程。与此同时，盟国计划在法庭上反对佐治亚州的法律和其他法律。

佐治亚州参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克(Raphael Warnock)说:“格鲁吉亚目前发生的事情凸显了这一问题的重要性和紧迫性。”，在周五的采访中。

“这关系到我们作为一个美国人的基本身份——一人一票。”

围绕投票准入的政治和政策的争吵正在扩大，这是近年来从未有过的，让人回想起许多美国人可能认为的确保平等投票的既定规则。

但随着共和党控制的从佐治亚州到爱荷华州再到亚利桑那州的州立法机构采取戏剧性的行动来限制提前投票，并强制要求新的选民身份证，华盛顿的辩论有可能加剧拜登总统任期早期美国巨大的政治分歧，就像民主党总统发誓要团结全国一样。

预计在分裂严重的国会，特别是参议院，这将是一个长达数月的漫长过程。尽管民主党迫切呼吁采取行动，但民主党目前不愿意强行改变阻挠议事的规则。

相反，民主党人准备以老式的方式立法，在漫长的参议院辩论中淡化论点，从委员会听证室蔓延到参议院，并迫使对手公开反对——就像南卡罗来纳州参议员斯特罗姆·瑟蒙德在上世纪阻挠民权法案时所做的那样。

民权活动家之子、新泽西州参议员科里·布克在接受采访时说:“他们简直是在挤压美国命脉的动脉。”。"它们窒息了我们在地球上的独特性."

然而，布克不会公开呼吁结束阻挠议事，这是一种议会工具，在某些情况下，需要至少60票才能推进参议院立法。

周五，总统再次呼吁国会颁布《人权法案》，这是一项针对共和党限制的选举改革。他还呼吁制定约翰·刘易斯投票权推进法案，该法案将恢复最高法院2013年否决的一项里程碑式法律的某些方面。

但是拜登，像越来越少的其他强大的民主党人一样，仍然不愿意接受所谓的“核选择”——结束阻挠议事——因为担心这会进一步分裂这个国家。

与此同时，格鲁吉亚的政治斗争正在加剧，多年来黑人社区的选民登记运动和稳定的人口变化帮助拜登赢得了这个曾经稳固的红色州。

就在肯普和几名白人州议员周四庆祝该州新投票法的签署之际，州警察戴上手铐，强行带走了一名黑人妇女州众议员帕克·坎农(Park Cannon)，此前她敲了州长私人办公室的门。

坎农被控妨碍执法和扰乱大会，两项重罪。周四晚些时候，她被释放出狱。唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)是前总统，他推动了对选举欺诈的虚假指控，并就新法律向佐治亚州州长和州领导人表示祝贺。

随着国会为这场斗争做好准备，越来越多的外部努力正在花费数百万美元试图影响辩论，并对两党的选民、企业和立法者施加政治压力。

自由派团体“最终公民联盟”(End Civils United)正与前司法部长埃里克·霍尔德(Eric Holder)的反不公正选区划分团体“全国民主党选区划分委员会”(National Democratic Redistriction Committee)合作，发起一场3000万美元的广告活动，试图说服被认为是摇摆不定的民主党和共和党参议员。

其他努力也在进行中，包括前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马通过无党派名人“当我们都投票”组织。

民权领袖阿尔·夏普顿星期五说，他正与西弗吉尼亚州和亚利桑那州的宗教领袖合作，向家乡的民主党参议员施压。他很清楚这场战斗可能会持续一段时间。

“我准备继续这场斗争，不管需要多长时间，”他说。“看看我们花了多长时间才获得投票权。”

夏普顿还表示，辩论给黑人选民带来了活力，这可能导致明年中期选举的参与率激增，尽管共和党颁布了新的投票要求。

夏普顿说:“他们如此明目张胆，我认为这符合我们的国家战略。”。“我们只需要参议院的民主党人站出来。”

佐治亚州法律要求有照片的身份证才能通过邮件进行缺席投票，减少了人们要求缺席投票的时间，并限制了投票箱的放置位置和使用时间。该法案是共和党领导的大会审议的一些提案的淡化版本。

H1N1病毒规模庞大，参议院的对应机构将通过扩大邮件投票和提前投票来对抗佐治亚州的新法律，这两种方式在大流行期间都很受欢迎。它将通过在全国范围内建立自动选民登记制度，允许前重罪犯投票，并限制各州从选民名册中删除已登记选民的方式，更广泛地开放投票渠道。它还涉及竞选资金和道德法律。

尽管如此，民主党全国委员会主席海梅·哈里森警告说，他的政党将把共和党人告上法庭，“并为此而战”。周四晚些时候，三个团体——新佐治亚项目、黑人选民事务基金和崛起组织——在亚特兰大的美国地区法院提起诉讼，质疑新佐治亚法律的关键条款，称它们违反了《投票权法案》。

但哈里森也承认，阻挠议事是全国民主党推翻共和党支持的变革的“障碍”。

哈里森告诉美联社:“我正在向每个人传递信息，尤其是在我这边，人们现在对事情的发展非常非常不安。”。

主席继续说，“我将尽我所能，用我身体里的每一次呼吸，用流过我血管的每一滴血，来确保我们从这一点上进行反击。”

“我们不会回到吉姆·克劳2.0，”他说。“因此，我们必须竭尽全力确保这种情况不会发生。”

Democrats assail Georgia law, make case for voting overhaul

Democrats have seized on new voting restrictions in Georgia to focus attention on the fight to overhaul federalelectionlaws, setting up a slow-building standoff that carries echoes of the civil rights battles of a half-century ago.

In fiery speeches, pointed statements and tweets, party leaders on Friday decried the law signed the day before by the state’s Republican governor as specifically aimed at suppressing Black and Latino votes and a threat to democracy. PresidentJoe Bidenreleased an extended statement, calling the law an attack on “good conscience” that denies the right to vote for “countless” Americans.

“This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century,” Biden said, referring to laws of the last century that enforced heavy-handed racial segregation in the South.

“It must end. We have a moral and Constitutional obligation to act,” he said. He told reporters the Georgia law is an “atrocity" and the Justice Department is looking into it.

Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, lashed back, accusing Biden of attempting to “destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box" by supporting what the governor sees as federal intrusion into state responsibilities.

Behind the chorus of outrage, Democrats are also wrestling with the limits on their power in Washington, as long as Senate filibuster rules allow Republicans to block major legislation, including H.R. 1, a sweepingelections bill now pending in the Senate.

Biden and his party are seeking to build and sustain momentum in the realm of public opinion — hoping to nationalize what has so far been a Republican-led, state-by-state movement to curb access to the ballot — while they begin a slow, plodding legislative process. Allies meanwhile plan to fight the Georgia law, and others, in court.

“What’s happening in Georgia right now, underscores the importance and the urgency,” said Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in an interview Friday.

“This is about what is fundamental to our identity as an American people — one person, one vote.”

The emerging brawl over the politics and policy of voting access is swelling like nothing seen in recent years, harkening back to what many Americans may assume are well-settled rules ensuring equal access to the ballot.

But as Republican-controlled state legislatures from Georgia to Iowa to Arizona are taking dramatic action to limit early voting and force new voter ID requirements, the debate in Washington threatens to exacerbate the nation’s cavernous political divides in the early days of the Biden presidency, just as the Democratic president vows to unite the country.

It is expected to be a months-long slog in the narrowly divided Congress, specifically the Senate, where Democrats are, for now, unwilling to muscle their slim majority to change filibuster rules, despite the party’s urgent calls for action.

Instead, the Democrats are prepared to legislate the old-fashioned way, unspooling arguments in lengthy Senate debates, spilling out of the committee hearing rooms and onto the Senate floor, and forcing opponents to go on the record as standing in the way — much as South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond was positioned when he filibustered the Civil Rights Act of the last century.

“They’re literally squeezing the arteries of the lifeblood of America," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the son of civil rights activists, said in an interview. “They are choking what makes us distinct and unique on the planet Earth.”

Booker would not, however, openly call for the end of the filibuster, a parliamentary tool requiring at least 60 votes to advance Senate legislation in some cases.

On Friday, the president revived his call on Congress to enact H.R. 1, an elections overhaul that would confront the Republican restrictions. He called as well for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore some aspects of a landmark law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.

But Biden, like a shrinking number of other powerful Democrats, remains unwilling to embrace the so-called “nuclear option” — ending the filibuster — for fear it would further divide the country.

Meantime, the political fight was intensifying in Georgia, where years of voter registration drives in Black communities and steady population changes helped Biden win the once solidly red state.

Just as Kemp and several white state lawmakers celebrated the signing of the state’s new voting law on Thursday, state police officers handcuffed and forcibly removed state Rep. Park Cannon, a Black woman, after she knocked on the door of the governor’s private office.

Cannon was charged with obstruction of law enforcement and disruption of the General Assembly, both felonies. She was released from jail late Thursday. Donald Trump, the former president who promoted false claims of election fraud, congratulated the Georgia governor and state leaders on the new law.

As Congress hunkers down for the fight, a groundswell of outside efforts is spending millions to try to influence the debate and apply political pressure on voters, corporations and lawmakers in both parties.

A $30 million advertising campaign is coming from the liberal group, End Citizens United, working with former Attorney General Eric Holder’s anti-gerrymandering group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, trying to persuade Democratic and Republican senators considered to be swing votes.

Other efforts are also underway, including from former first lady Michelle Obama, via the nonpartisan celebrity “When We All Vote” organization.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton said Friday that he’s working with religious leaders in West Virginia and Arizona to press the home-state Democratic senators. He’s well aware that this fight may go on for a while.

“I’m prepared to go on this fight for however long it takes," he said. “Look at how long it took us to get the right to vote.”

Sharpton also suggested that Black voters have been energized by the debate, which could lead to a surge in participation in next year’s midterm elections despite the new voting requirements enacted by Republicans.

“By them being so blatant, I think that they play into our national strategy," Sharpton said. “We just need the Democrats in the Senate to stand up.”

The Georgia law requires a photo ID in order to vote absentee by mail, cuts the time people have to request an absentee ballot and limits where ballot drop boxes can be placed and when they can be accessed. The bill was a watered-down version of some of the proposals considered by the GOP-led General Assembly.

H.R. 1 is vast, and its Senate counterpart would confront the new Georgia law by expanding voting by mail and early voting, both popular during the pandemic. It would more broadly open ballot access by creating automatic voter registration nationwide, allowing former felons to vote and limiting the way states can remove registered voters from the rolls. It also addresses campaign financing and ethics laws.

Still, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison warned his party would take Republicans to court "and fight about it there.” A lawsuit filed late Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta by three groups — New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund and Rise — challenged key provisions of the new Georgia law and said they violated the Voting Rights Act.

But Harrison also acknowledged that the filibuster was an “an obstacle” for the national Democrats’ efforts to overturn the Republican-backed changes.

“I am delivering the message to everybody, particularly on my side of the aisle, that folks right now are very, very upset about where things are going,” Harrison told The AP.

The chairman continued, “I’m going to do everything in my power, with every breath in my body, with every drop of blood that flows through my veins, to make sure that we fight back from this."

“We’re not going back to Jim Crow 2.0," he said. "So we’ve got to do whatever we need to do to make sure that doesn’t happen.”