Democrats drop defense of voting rights after Biden’s Philadelphia speech Only days after President Joe Biden declared that the United States was facing “the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War,” the White House and the Democratic Party have effectively abandoned any effort to protect voting rights. President Joe Biden delivers a speech on voting rights at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, in Philadelphia [Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci] In his July 13 speech in Philadelphia, Biden cited the passage of 28 laws by Republican-controlled states restricting the ability of poor and working class voters to cast ballots and making it easier for state legislatures to overturn election results certified by local election officials. He linked this systematic assault on voting rights to Donald Trump’s attempted coup of January 6, calling it the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War.