Battleground states remain vulnerable to election subversion. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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As we all know (all too well), after the 2020 election, Donald Trump and his allies assaulted our democratic system. How vulnerable is it in 2024?

We’ve closed some of the loopholes they exploited — for example, Congress updated the Electoral Count Act — but far too many remain. If Trump, or any defeated candidate, were to deploy the same tactics in 2024, we would still be relying on the goodwill and law-abiding honesty of individual officials to ensure a smooth and lawful transition. That’s not good enough. U.S. democracy is built on checks and balances — a robust set of defenses to ensure that a faithless individual cannot undo the people’s will.

In anticipation of the 2024 election, my colleague Alice Clapman has written a new report

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to guide state legislatures and policymakers on how to shore up their electoral systems against the attacks of election deniers.

It spells out the five key steps every state should take to get ready for 2024. They should clarify limits on the discretion of local officials certifying election results. They need to strengthen laws that channel election disputes to the state courts rather than the legislature or another body and set clear standards for resolving these disputes. They should make a plan to send out accurate information to give voters confidence and preempt disinformation. That requires money and can’t wait until Election Day. They should bolster election administration with training, written guidance, and investment in equipment, security, scenario planning, staffing, and supplies. And they should enact, if they haven’t already, stronger laws against the intimidation of voters and election workers.

How close are we to protecting elections in this way? Several of the states that Trump specifically targeted in 2020 remain vulnerable

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to election subversion.

Georgia, whose data systems were breached by insiders sympathetic to Trump, must implement best practices for preventing, detecting, and confirming similar breaches in the future. Arizona needs to prohibit partisan interference in the vote-counting process. Pennsylvania should clarify its laws so that mail ballots with minor bureaucratic errors can be cured and rightfully counted. Wisconsin should allow election officials to begin processing absentee and mail ballots before Election Day to prevent another “red mirage” — the false impression that a Republican has won on Election Day, later reversed as mail ballots are counted in the ensuing days — which undermines confidence in the count. Nevada must work to train its new election officials, as a generation of experienced workers left the field following threats of violence and political interference. Even Michigan, which has made significant strides toward preventing another 2020, can do more, including banning
firearms at polling places, drop boxes, and counting facilities.

Of the many tasks ahead, states must find a way to count ballots as early in the process as possible. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania must change their laws so clerks don’t have to wait until Election Day, a critical reform to deprive conspiracy theories of kindling.

This new agenda for the states, I think, is one of the most important things the Brennan Center has published in a long time. The 2024 election is critical for the fitness of our democracy — and for increasing the chance that voters will trust results. We should all insist that states erect these basic protections.





Guarding State Judges’ Independence

Writing for the newly launched State Court Report website

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, former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. examines the increasing hostility of legislatures toward their states’ supreme courts. Lawmakers in some states are defying court orders, passing laws that attempt to intimidate or influence judges, and asking federal courts to weaken state courts’ authority, all of which endangers our system of checks and balances. “If courts are to be neutral arbiters of the law in our democracy, they must be prepared to fight for their role,” he writes. Read more

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The Latest in Alabama’s Redistricting Saga

Alabama’s Black voters notched another remarkable victory in the fight for fair representation last week. A district court rejected the state’s new congressional map after state lawmakers openly defied the Supreme Court’s June order to fix the illegal dilution of Black political influence. Now, a court-appointed special master is tasked with drawing new district lines — but Alabama officials are pursuing yet another appeal to the Supreme Court to block any new map and keep their racially discriminatory map in place for the 2024 election. Michael Li writes that there are more rounds to go before we know “whether justice will be delayed yet again.” READ MORE

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Innovation from State Supreme Courts

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many state courts developed novel eviction diversion programs that helped tenants avoid homelessness. These promising initiatives provide a model for how judicial leaders can address systemic challenges in their states’ court systems by proactively tackling the sources of legal disputes. “These upstream responses to justice problems were not historically considered part of the judiciary’s job. State supreme courts must lead the culture change,” former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget M. McCormack writes in State Court Report. Read more

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A Show of Confidence for Voting Machines

Last week, California lawmakers passed a bill limiting the circumstances under which local election officials can hand-count ballots, blocking one rural county’s plan to get rid of its voting machines. Though election deniers claim that counting ballots by hand is more trustworthy than using machines, research has consistently shown that hand-counts are both more error prone and inefficient. “Doing something like a full hand count in a sizeable jurisdiction is not the way to put those conspiracy theories to rest,” Gowri Ramachandran told the Associated Press. “It’s a way to waste a lot of money and potentially create chaos.” READ MORE

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Coming Up

VIRTUAL EVENT: Abortion Rights and the Future of State Constitutions

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Tuesday, September 19, 6–7 p.m. ET



Join us for a live virtual panel exploring the aftermath of Dobbs and its implications for state courts and constitutions. Panelists include Cheri Beasley, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court; David Cohen, reproductive rights scholar at Drexel University; and Alicia Bannon, director of the Brennan Center Judiciary Program and editor in chief of State Court Report

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. Emily Bazelon of the New York Times Magazine and Yale Law School will moderate a conversation on the role of state courts in adjudicating reproductive rights cases, as well as the future of state constitutionalism. RSVP today

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Produced in partnership with the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center



VIRTUAL EVENT: Youth Rising: The Power of Latinx Voters

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Tuesday, September 26, 1–2 p.m. ET



Under the banner of the Spanish-language website Brennan en español, the Brennan Center is excited to announce a panel of political luminaries focused on the Latino electorate. Hear from changemakers leading the youngest generations into power at a live virtual conversation with speakers María Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino, Arizona State Rep. Alma Hernandez, Santiago Mayer of Voters of Tomorrow, and moderator and journalist Paola Ramos. RSVP today

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Produced in partnership with Voto Latino Foundation

VIRTUAL EVENT: The Supreme Court at War: How a Past Court Informs the Future

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Thursday, September 28, 1–2 p.m. ET



Join us for a live event with The Court at War author and Georgetown Law professor Cliff Sloan to learn about the little-known story of how President Franklin D. Roosevelt altered the most powerful court in the country and the consequences that produced today’s Supreme Court. RSVP today

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