Daily Docket — Friday, April 7

Here are some updates from yesterday.

• Tennessee Republicans expelled two young, Black Democratic lawmakers who protested for gun safety legislation after a mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school. The Legislature did not expel a third Democrat, a white woman, even though she protested as well. 

• • The expulsions are just the latest anti-democratic act by legislators that have drawn gerrymandered maps, passed legislation to limit local power in Nashville and refused to fix voter suppression laws.

• Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed three election bills. The bills would have codified outdated signature verification guidelines, removed some voters from the permanent mail-in voting list and effectively banned electronic ballot tabulators in the state.

• A disenfranchised individual with a past felony conviction and a nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit against Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). The lawsuit challenges Youngkin’s policy of restoring voting rights to people with past felony convictions on a discretionary, case-by-case basis, as opposed to his predecessors’ automatic restoration.

Here's what to expect coming up.

• This week, we launched our new contributor program! Our five inaugural contributors are experts, advocates and leaders who will routinely cover threats to democracy. On Monday, you can expect our second column: Charlotte Hill, the interim director of the Democracy Policy Initiative at UC Berkeley, will explore the pernicious ways red states make voter registration unnecessarily difficult. 

• Our podcast, Defending Democracy, is on spring break for the next few weeks, so there's no new podcast episode today. It's the perfect time to catch up on our previous episodes: From Mississippi’s ongoing efforts to disenfranchise Black voters to how blue states can do better, we’ve covered a lot of topics. Listen here.

Can’t get enough news? You can always find more details about these updates on our News Alerts page.

This is a Daily Docket email where we provide the day’s voting rights news and courtroom updates that you need to know. 

Love our emails, but don’t need daily updates? Opt out of Daily Docket here. We depend on the support of our readers to keep bringing you the latest on the fight for democracy. You can support our work here to keep our content free and available for all. You can update your email preferences here. Email is the best way to keep in touch, but you may unsubscribe. 

Democracy Docket
250 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
United States