Washington, DC – The first month of this election year has already seen a concerted and coordinated movement to roll back voting rights across the country. In January 2012, more than a dozen states have introduced legislation that would make it harder for eligible Americans to register, vote, and cast ballots that count. Bills that require photo voter ID, demand proof-of-citizenship documentation, and implement harsh restrictions on community-based voter registration drives are being considered across the country with the intent to suppress the electorate for partisan gain.
These legislative trends, which could have a powerful impact on turnout in the 2012 election and beyond, are summarized in a new report released Monday by the nonpartisan voting rights organization Project Vote. “With an estimated 60 million eligible Americans not registered to vote, our democracy still has a long way to go to be truly representational,” says Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote. “Our legislators should be working to bring down barriers to voting, not erecting new ones.”
The negative trend in election administration laws, which reached new heights in 2011, has already brought the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric Holder has made three speeches affirming voting rights since mid-December, and recently reported that the Justice Department has opened a record number of more than 100 new investigations into possible voting rights discrimination across the country. In December, the Justice Department blocked the implementation of South Carolina’s voter ID law, showing that it would disproportionally impact minority voters. At the end of January, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a field hearing in Tampa, Florida to examine that state’s new regressive voting laws.
As Project Vote’s report shows, the attack on voting rights continues, but increased awareness of the dangers of voter suppression policies have led to the introduction of bills that would undo regressive laws and help expand the electorate. Five states and the U.S. Congress are currently considering bills that would reverse effects of bad election laws. In addition, new bills in eight states increase opportunities for Election Day Registration, online registration, paperless voter registration, or expanded locations for voter registration. These elections laws seek to make voting easier and more accessible.
Where does your state stand on voting rights and election law?
Project Vote has been tracking election-related legislation in all 46 state legislatures currently in session, as well as in the U.S. Congress. In the new report, Election Legislation 2012: Threats and Opportunities Assessment, Project Vote’s Erin Ferns Lee summarizes the substance and current status of both positive and negative bills being considered across the country.
For example, the report states that legislators in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Virginia have introduced bills that require “proof of citizenship” to register. Sixteen states—including Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and others—have introduced new voter ID laws, despite estimates by voting rights groups that as many as 10 percent of voting-eligible Americans do not have the kinds of photo ID these laws require. In Minnesota, a new bill proposes a constitutional amendment requiring a photo ID for the purpose of voting, which is a run-around last year’s governor’s veto of a photo voter ID law.
Another disturbing trend is laws that would make it nearly impossible for community-based voter registration drives to operate. Missouri, Mississippi, and South Carolina have introduced laws that would impose such draconian administrative requirements, shortened deadlines, or excessive fees that organizations may find running voter registration drives prohibitively risky. (In Florida, which passed such a registration-suppression law in 2011, the League of Women Voters announced they were suspending their registration efforts for the first time in more than 70 years.)
“Millions of Americans rely on community-based drives to become registered voters,” says Slater. “The impact of these regressive laws will be greatest on minority citizens, who are twice as likely to register through community-based drives as other groups.”
Opportunities for Voting Rights
There is some encouraging news coming out of legislatures so far this year, as legislators introduce bills designed to make voter registration more accessible, streamline the registration process, and enfranchise Americans. Many states have introduced bills to remove or broaden voter ID requirements, and Congress is considering an amendment to the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) that would prohibit states from requiring photo ID in federal elections. At the national level, the U.S. Congress is considering the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, which would prohibit deceptive practices in federal elections, as well as the Democracy Restoration Act, which would restore voting rights to millions of Americans who have been released from incarceration.
In the Threats and Opportunities Assessment, Lee writes, “The war on voting continues in 2012, as partisans introduce or fight for new, regressive election laws that exclude voters from having a voice in our democracy. However, it is encouraging to see—in this important election year—that voters and lawmakers are fighting back with proposals to block regressive laws, ban deceptive practices, and make voting accessible for all citizens.”
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For more information and interviews, please contact Sarah Massey at 202 210-6614.