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I want to get practical. if republicans walked out of the statehouse because they didn't want to pass a bill in a state democrats were in charge, would you feel the same? >> reporter: depends, if it was a bill on voting rights, absolutely. i think there are republicans that should have gone with the democrats. bottom line, i don't see voting rights as a partisan issue. i see this as a democracy issue. there's an existential crisis around democratic participation. we judged health of democracy based on access. this is a suppression session. let's be honest about what this is. this is political ...

But there are a lot of voters for whom that partisan frein is not going to resonate. for them this has to be a question of morality. this has to be a moral issue. how do you talk about this in a way that doesn't let anybody off the hook and at the same time appeals to a voter who might not be motivated by the partisan frame? >> you know, my leader, dr. barbara, i just -- the bottom line is we have to be recognize that this is a democracy issue. at the end of the day my right to vote should not be contingent on what political party is in power, that the constitution does say that we the people ...

Resisting reform at the federal level. you have democrats pushing back. but there are a lot of voters for whom that partisan frame is not going to resonate. for them this has to be a question of morality. this has to be a moral issue. how do you talk about this in a way that doesn't let anybody off the hook and at the same time appeals to a voter who might not be motivated by the partisan frame? >> you know, my leader, dr. barr, i think that he said it succinctly earlier. we have to recognize that this is a democracy issue. at the end of the day, my right to vote should not be contingent upon ...

Beating around the bush. he's increasingly vocal about voting rights. what do you think is propelling him to speak out now and why? >> i think no doubt, alex, the activity that is happening in so many states around the cannot that threaten access to the ballot box for so many, i think is clearly driving the former president being out there so foesfully on this. i think the argument he was making there was also pitched to the business community. in that if we pull apart the fabric of our democracy, that not only impedes greatly on our democracy, but it impedes the functionality of our society i...

Outcome. and so we want to really attack this from our local level to state level but we need sleeping legislation. the good news is that we have an opportunity right now. we have four the people act and we have the john lewis voter advancement act. both of those acts right now, given with their past in the senate, will actually provide the kind of federal protection that we need. and so we've got to put president, we got put pressure on democratic senators, we've got to put pressure--you know the unfortunate thing about this is this is not a partisan issue. you know, we should not allow the r...