The White House has come under enormous pressure from activists and key Democratic lawmakers to invest more political energy into the issue, as civil rights groups have lamented for months that the administration had yet to prioritize voting in the way that it has other matters.

In an interview Monday, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) recalled that Biden, in his victory remarks after clinching the presidency in November 2020, pledged to African American voters — who largely revived his presidential campaign in the South Carolina primary earlier that year — that he would always have their backs.

“It takes no political capital to keep your word, and there’s nothing more fundamental to Blacks in this country than the precious right to vote,” Clyburn said. “No group of people in the United States of America has made more sacrifices, given more for the right to vote, than Black people.”

Nsé Ufot, chief executive of the New Georgia Project, said activists needed to see more from the administration than a speech from Biden, suggesting her time would be better spent fighting for results than listening to his remarks.