By: The Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden called the right to vote “a test of our time” and urged Americans to protect it amid GOP-led changes to election laws and threats to voting rights, casting the battle as a globally watched test of U.S. democracy in a speech at the National Constitution Center on Tuesday. “We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden said in a roughly 25-minute speech to supporters. We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden said in a roughly 25-minute speech to supporters. “That’s not hyperbole — since the Civil War.” He directly tied the fight to former President Donald Trump’s false attacks on the 2020 election, while pointing to the numerous courts cases, audits, and reviews that have upheld the result. “The big lie is just that: a big lie,” he said. “You don’t call facts ‘fake’ and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you’re unhappy. That’s not statesmanship, that’s selfishness. That’s not democracy, that’s the denial of the right to vote. It suppresses. It subjugates.” He called for efforts to pass Democrats’ sweeping voting rights bill, the For the People Act, blasted false attacks on the 2020 election, and repeatedly said that U.S. allies were watching the fight for signs of the health of the world’s leading democracy. Biden also called for voters to rise up in opposition to Republican legislation. But at the same time, he offered little hint of how Democrats’ sweeping voting reforms could make it through Washington, indicating the limits of his powers and how far he is willing to push, even as allies urge him to support an end to the Senate filibuster. Republicans argue that Democrats are trying to impose national standards on elections, tilt the rules in their own favor, and force major taxpayer funding of campaigns, as part of Democrats’ plan to reduce the influence of big political donors. “After Democrats failed to pass their federal takeover of our elections … Biden is continuing their dishonest attacks on commonsense election integrity efforts,” said a statement from Republican National Committee spokesperson Danielle Álvarez. “Meanwhile, Republicans are engaged in state-led efforts to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat, and polling shows Americans overwhelmingly support these laws.”