Welcome to The Markup, our weekly insights and analysis of the latest in election law and policy.
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As a reminder: The Markup is now following a summer schedule. As legislative sessions wrap up, we’ll be publishing on the first and third Mondays of each month before resuming weekly updates after Labor Day in the runup to Election Day.
Today is Monday, July 15. We are tracking 1,787 bills so far this session across 44 states and D.C., with 312 bills that restrict voter access or election administration and 890 bills that improve voter access or election administration. The rest are neutral, mixed, or unclear in their impact.
The Bad News: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would impose a burdensome documentary proof of citizenship requirement on voters nationwide. If enacted, the bill could disenfranchise millions of American citizens. A federal appeals court decision will make it harder for Tennessee citizens with past felony convictions to register to vote. The Georgia secretary of state announced plans to search for noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls using unreliable data, while the State Election Board advanced rules that could interfere with the certification of results and impose new burdens on election officials.
The Good News: The governor of Hawaii signed a new law directing the state to join ERIC, the interstate compact to keep voter rolls accurate. New Hampshire enacted a law guaranteeing access to accessible voting machines in all elections. Two Wisconsin court decisions will improve access to mail voting.
Looking Ahead: When the North Carolina legislature reconvenes from July 29 to August 1, it could consider S.B. 88, a bill that would add signature matching to what is already the nation’s most burdensome set of mail voting requirements. A pro-voter group filed a federal lawsuit against Kentucky alleging that the state’s process for purging voter rolls violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Following a hearing last week, a federal court in Mississippi is considering whether federal law allows states to accept mail ballots with postmarks on or before Election Day if they are received after Election Day. Eighteen states and D.C. accept mail ballots received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked by Election Day.
Here are the details:
Governor of Hawaii signs bill to join interstate compact to keep voter rolls up to date.
Governor Josh Green signed into law S.B. 2240, which directs the state to apply for membership with the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) by next summer. Hawaii will join 24 states and D.C. in the interstate compact that assists states in keeping voter rolls up to date. The group has seen the departure of many members in recent years following baseless, partisan attacks.
New Hampshire enacts law guaranteeing access to accessible voting machines.
Governor Chris Sununu signed H.B. 1264 into law. This bill requires municipalities to provide accessible voting machines for voters with disabilities at each polling place in all elections. Federal law requires such machines be available for federal elections but not for other types of elections.
U.S. House passes bill requiring burdensome proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The U.S. House passed the SAVE Act last week. This bill would require all applicants for voter registration to provide a photo ID and proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. A recent study found that millions of U.S. citizens do not have these forms of documentation readily available. Federal courts have found that similar state-level requirements violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Under current law, voters already must affirm their citizenship under penalty of perjury when they register to vote.
Wisconsin Supreme Court reauthorizes use of ballot drop boxes as Court of Appeals rules that mail ballots missing certain witness information may be counted.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled last week that state law allows jurisdictions to establish mail ballot drop boxes, reversing a 2022 decision holding that drop boxes could not be used unless expressly permitted by legislation. Additionally, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that mail ballots missing certain witness information may be counted so long as the accompanying witness certificate contains sufficient information to locate the witness.
Federal appeals court reimposes barriers to registering to vote in Tennessee for citizens with past felony convictions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit temporarily blocked a district court ruling blocking the state’s requirement that individuals with past felony convictions provide additional documentation with their voter registration applications. The Sixth Circuit determined that changing this policy for Americans with past felony convictions would come too close to the August state primary elections.
Georgia State Election Board advances problematic new rules for counting and certifying results, while the secretary of state announces initiative in attempt to find noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.
The State Election Board voted to begin a formal process for issuing new election rules that risk the timely certification of results, allow dozens of additional observers into tabulation centers, and impose other unnecessary burdens on county officials. Additionally, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that his office is launching an effort to identify potential noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls using Department of Driver Services and U.S. Department of Homeland Security data. Similar efforts have resulted in large numbers of citizens being improperly flagged.
This update is powered by VRL’s State Voting Rights Tracker: tracker.votingrightslab.org