A decades-old conviction can deny a citizen’s access to the ballot box in some states – sometimes even for a lifetime. In fact, in the U.S. today, 4.6 million citizens – more than the entire population of the metropolitan areas of Seattle or Tampa – cannot vote...
Voting Rights Lab
Voting with Student ID in 2023: The State of the Law & Pending Legislation
Download a PDF of this fact sheet here. Just five states [1] have laws that require voter ID to cast a ballot and expressly forbid the use of student ID cards as a form of voter ID. In a sixth state, Arizona, the law allows for student ID cards to serve as voter ID if...
North Carolina: The Next Front in the Voting Wars
States like Texas, Florida, Georgia, Arizona have drawn the national spotlight for increasingly brazen attacks on voters and election administrators alike. Since 2020, each has enacted laws to restrict access to the ballot box. Each advanced narratives that erode voters’ confidence in our elections. And each saw rule changes that disproportionately harm Black and brown voters.
Now North Carolina – historically the site of some of our nation’s most shameful race-based voter suppression efforts – appears poised to join their ranks.
No-Alternative Photo ID vs. Voter ID: Lessons from the First Election Law to Pass in 2023
It's no secret that voter ID is a third rail when it comes to voting and elections policy. On one hand, strict photo ID laws that do not provide eligible, registered voters an alternative way to cast their ballot have been found to be racially discriminatory by some...
The State of State Election Law Since 2020
The years since the 2020 election were the most prolific for election law in recent history, with new laws impacting how people vote and how our elections are run enacted in nearly every state across the country. In the two years since the 2020 election, nearly every...
Democracy on the Ballot: The Fate of 2022 Voting-Related Ballot Initiatives
You've heard it before: democracy was on the ballot during the 2022 midterm elections. Considerable attention was directed toward races for governor, secretary of state, and attorney general given the role each may play in election administration or oversight –...
The Process Continues: Election Administration After Election Day
A lot of attention will be paid to election administration in this final week leading up to Election Day – and rightfully so. Across the country, more than 21 million voters have already cast a ballot using a pre-election voting option offered in their state, and...
Mail Voting: States Trending in Opposite Directions Ahead of 2022 Midterms
Following the 2020 election, an onslaught of election-related legislation has pulled the nation in two directions, with some states working to expand ballot access and others passing legislation to restrict it. Mail votingl epitomizes this divergence. Voters will find...
The State of State Election Law: 2022 Mid-Year Review
In recent years, we’ve witnessed an onslaught of election-related legislation pulling the nation in two directions. On the one hand, many states have taken steps to erode participation in our democracy, creating hurdles to casting a ballot and interfering with fair...
Treating the Voting Booth like a Crime Scene: The Hypercriminalization of Elections
To date in 2022, 14 states have introduced 46 bills that would escalate the investigation or prosecution of purported election crimes.