California, Michigan, and others make progress on protecting voters and election officials ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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Only 12 states and Washington, DC, prohibit both open and concealed carry of firearms at poll sites. It’s among the most unnerving statistics I’ve ever read in a Brennan Center report

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. There’s simply no reason for guns to be at polling places.

Failing to ban them at places where people vote seems like a dereliction of duty by state legislatures. And in many states, it really is as simple as that. But several states had previously implemented broad restrictions on gun possession, including at polling places, before the legal landscape for regulating firearms shifted following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen in 2022, by far the most extreme Second Amendment ruling ever. While Bruen compelled those states whose laws it throttled to restart the messy process of passing gun control legislation — often in the face of stiff opposition from a vocal minority of gun enthusiasts — the Court emphasized that restrictions on firearms in sensitive places like poll sites is constitutionally permissible.

The good news is that some states are making progress in keeping guns away from election sites. In November, the Michigan House of Representatives passed two bills to ban firearms at places where votes are cast. A bill has passed both houses of the New Mexico legislature and now awaits Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s signature. Massachusetts and Virginia are considering similar legislation.

Perhaps the most encouraging development is the introduction of Assembly Bill 2642 in California by Assemblymember Marc Berman. Based on a model policy proposed by the Brennan Center and Giffords Law Center in our joint report

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on guns and voting, the Peace Act aims to safeguard both election workers and voters from intimidation, threats, and coercion involving the presence of guns wherever voting or vote-counting occurs, going further than any other state to keep violence out of the election process.

My colleagues Sean Morales-Doyle and Kendall Karson discuss the details

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in a recent piece on our website. The bill creates an automatic presumption that openly carrying a gun near a voting site constitutes illegal intimidation. This is simply common sense, and it patches a gaping hole in our web of voter protections.

When armed vigilantes dressed absurdly in tactical gear stalked ballot drop boxes in Arizona in 2022, law enforcement officials ultimately concluded they hadn’t broken any laws. An officer acknowledged to one observer that the behavior could be viewed as intimidation — it’s hard to know how else to interpret an armed man prowling around a voting site — but did nothing more. By removing any doubt as to the legality of armed intimidation, the Peace Act would prevent a similar occurrence in the Golden State.

The Peace Act includes a number of other important measures. Voters and election officials, for example, would be empowered to sue individuals who violate the law. And injured parties could secure injunctive relief.

The United States has a sordid legacy of voter intimidation, often racially motivated. Going back to the early 1830s, when a Pennsylvanian told Alexis de Tocqueville that Black Americans “are not disinclined to vote, but they are afraid of being maltreated . . . and the magistrates are unable to protect them in the exercise of their legal privileges.” And continuing through the horrors of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow eras.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” wrote Faulkner. Voter intimidation lives on in America. Let’s do our best, now, to make it part of the past.





Abuse of Officeholders Weakens Democracy

An alarming new Brennan Center report

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shows that state and local officeholders are facing an onslaught of threats, harassment, and abuse. National surveys we conducted found that 43 percent of state legislators and 18 percent of local officeholders have experienced threats, with women and people of color subjected to abuse at higher rates. These incidents are not just endangering individuals — they are eroding American democracy. In a new video, state legislators and local officeholders speak about the growing threat of political violence and how it impacts their ability to serve the public. WATCH NOW

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Heightened Disinformation Risks in 2024

Officeholders aren’t the only ones dealing with abuse. Election workers have also faced increased threats as a result of election lies in the wake of 2020. And several factors, from the rise of artificial intelligence to domestic and foreign election interference efforts, are poised to make election disinformation even worse in 2024. Writing for Just Security, Lawrence Norden, Mekela Panditharatne, and David Evan Harris share recommendations for how social media and tech companies, election officials, and lawmakers can fight back against election falsehoods. Read more

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Defending Voting Rights in Texas

Another critical consequence of rampant election disinformation is the flood of anti-voter laws it has inspired. Last week, the Brennan Center and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund presented closing arguments in our challenge to Texas’s 2021 voter suppression law, Senate Bill 1. Several provisions make it harder for voters of color and those with disabilities or limited English proficiency to cast a ballot or get help voting. Other provisions threaten election workers

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with criminal penalties just for doing their jobs. “Regardless of the outcome, the trial exposed the steep toll of Texas’s anti-voter law, which created unequal opportunities to vote,” Kendall Karson writes. Read more

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Misleading Crime Messaging

The lead-up to last week’s special election in New York to fill George Santos’s former House seat confirmed that immigration and crime will be major campaign issues this year. As we head into the fall, candidates of both parties likely will try to play on voters’ fears around public safety and falsely conflate immigration with crime and violence. “But the facts are much more complicated than the rhetoric,” Brianna Seid and Ram Subramanian write. “Hopefully voters will not be swayed by misleading statements made by politicians and police.” Read more

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Founding-Era Arguments Against Trump’s Immunity Claim

The Supreme Court will soon rule on Trump’s claim that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for their actions in office. This notion runs contrary to the ideas that shaped the Constitution and the presidency. A new Q&A with founding-era historians Rosemarie Zagarri and Holly Brewer offers valuable insights into the framers’ understanding of presidential powers and what they would have thought of Trump’s immunity defense. READ MORE

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The Dangers of Unchecked Police Surveillance

According to a Brennan Center study

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, most police departments allow their officers virtually free rein to use social media in their work. The lack of adequate safeguards raises significant concerns for the public’s First Amendment and privacy rights. “Social media is a powerful tool that also poses serious risks, and it is critical that police departments adopt clear, robust, publicly available policies to mitigate the risks and most effectively serve their communities,” Rachel Levinson-Waldman and José Guillermo Gutiérrez write. READ MORE

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Coming Up

VIRTUAL EVENT: The Missing Constitutional Right

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Wednesday, March 20, 3–4 p.m. ET



The right to vote is one of the foundations of democracy, yet it has never truly been available to all Americans. Author Richard Hasen argues in his new book, A Real Right to Vote

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, that a constitutional amendment would end tumultuous fights over the franchise for good. But could it be that simple? Join us for a live virtual event with Hasen and moderator Wilfred Codrington III on how an amendment to the Constitution would enshrine the right to vote and what it would take to get there. RSVP today

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Produced in partnership with the NYU John Brademas Center

Want to keep up with Brennan Center Live events? Subscribe to the events newsletter.

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News

Elizabeth Goitein on the efforts to reform a controversial government spying power // ROLL CALL

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Lawrence Norden on how artificial intelligence could affect elections // PBS

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Leah Tulin on the impact of Texas’s 2021 voter suppression law // SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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Joanna Zdanys on New York’s public campaign finance program // OPEN SECRETS

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Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at [email protected]

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