Welcome to the June edition of The Lever, where our Hot Policy Take emphasizes how the details of any proposed federal voter ID law are critical for ensuring voters are not disenfranchised.
We also have an update on Texas with a look-ahead to the special session that begins next week, some good news from superstar John Legend on voting rights restoration, an update from our incredible partners, and – in case you missed it – our latest report, A Tale of Two Democracies. Let’s get right to it.
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Senator Joe Manchin recently proposed a framework for federal voting legislation that includes mention of a first-ever national voter ID law. Sen. Manchin’s proposal was thin on details, though, and when it comes to voter ID, details really matter.
In this month's Hot Policy Take, we discuss two features that must be included in a federal voter ID law:
- Allowing voters to prove identity using a variety of forms of documentation; and
- Allowing election officials to verify voter identity through other means when voters do not have documentation with them.
If it does not, it would become much harder to vote all across the country.
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NEW & NOTEWORTHY
Last week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that the special legislative session will begin on July 8. During the regular session, the Texas legislature passed several anti-voter measures including bills that increased criminalization of elections and increased burdens for people with disabilities. They also passed a few pro-voter bills including online tracking, expanding assistance from an interpreter, and requiring voting machines to produce an auditable paper record. You can read more about these regular session bills in our Texas roundup.
Heading into the special, we’ll be watching for these major anti-voter provisions that failed to pass during the regular session:
- Threatening voter assistants and election officials with criminal prosecution
- Limiting early voting hours
- Creating new barriers for voters with disabilities
- Reducing polling locations
- Making it easier for losing candidates to overturn election results
- Requiring onerous documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration
Read more about the regular session anti-voter provisions that could reappear in the special, or dive into our more nuanced breakdown of the common-sense reforms Texas should enact to modernize elections systems and maximize voter freedom.
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#TRENDING
Despite the onslaught of attacks on ballot access this year, voting rights restoration is gaining traction. New York, Washington, and Connecticut are three of the latest states to restore the right to vote to thousands of formerly incarcerated citizens, strengthening their communities by increasing participation in our democracy. Louisiana also passed a law reducing barriers that had prevented formerly incarcerated people from voting.
Let's celebrate with John Legend:
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Our partners at the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities are fighting to prevent sweeping voting restrictions during the upcoming special session that would disproportionately affect voters with disabilities.
The New York Times recently published a powerful article featuring CTD’s Susie Angel, who said, “They’re really making it so we don’t have a voice anymore. And without that, we can’t get the things that we need to survive.”
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BY THE NUMBERS
173 New Election Laws
ICYMI: Our latest report, A Tale of Two Democracies, demonstrates how a wave of state legislation on voting rights and election administration is transforming our democracy, creating a new fault line between states strengthening our democracy and those working to curtail it.
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Our analysis from mid-June shows that approximately one-quarter of eligible voters live in states that improved their laws this year, 15% live in states that enacted restrictive laws this year, and nearly half are awaiting a final tally upon the conclusion of their state’s legislative session.
Those most impacted by these mounting legislative obstacles are Americans who have historically been disenfranchised or blocked from casting a ballot: Black and brown people, Native Americans, voters with disabilities, veterans and members of the military, non-native English speakers, rural voters and low-income Americans. These are communities who for generations have already borne the brunt of disenfranchisement and now face new and overwhelmingly onerous restrictions.
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WHAT WE'RE READING
The Washington Post recently highlighted how “More than half of U.S. states have lowered some barriers to voting since the 2020 election.”
The article explores positive trends across states from expanding early voting to restoring voting rights to people with past felony convictions and contrasts them with the sweeping restrictive legislation implemented in states such as Georgia, Florida, and Iowa. We are proud that our report and the State Voting Rights Tracker helped tell this important story of the widening American divide.
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THE MARKUP
In addition to this monthly newsletter, you can also sign up for The Markup, a weekly insiders’ update on state election legislation. Here’s a snippet from this Monday’s edition of The Markup — a sample of what you can expect each week:
Michigan House advances strict voter ID bills and introduces legislation to audit 2020 election results; simultaneously advances some pro-voter bills. There was a lot of action in the Michigan House last week. It passed a pair of anti-voter voter ID bills sent over from the Senate. Under current Michigan law, voters who are unable to present photo ID may still cast a regular ballot if they sign an affidavit. As amended and passed by the House, the legislation would eliminate the affidavit option and require that voters provide photo ID and that poll workers do a signature match for each voter. No state in the country requires both a signature match and copy of photo ID to vote in person on Election Day.
If you’d like to get insights like this straight to your inbox each Monday, head here to sign up. (Note: Next week’s edition will come out on Tuesday.)
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