Voting Laws Roundup, May 2021: Brennan Center For Justice

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*Voting Laws Roundup: May 2021, Resource, Brennan Center For Justice*

- "States have already enacted more than 20 laws this year that will make it harder for Americans to vote — and many legislatures are still in session." BCJ, May 28, 2021.

Across the country, the effort to restrict the vote continues, with a wave of bills moving through state legislatures and becoming law.

Between January 1 and May 14, 2021, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to the vote.1 The United States is on track to far exceed its most recent period of significant voter suppression — 2011. By October of that year, 19 restrictive laws were enacted in 14 states. This year, the country has already reached that level, and it’s only May.

More restrictions on the vote are likely to become law, as roughly one-third of legislatures are still in session. Indeed, at least 61 bills with restrictive provisions are moving through 18 state legislatures. More specifically, 31 have passed at least one chamber, while another 30 have had some sort of committee action (e.g., a hearing, an amendment, or a committee vote). Overall, lawmakers have introduced at least 389 restrictive bills in 48 states in the 2021 legislative sessions.2

The restrictive laws from 2011 were enacted after the 2010 elections brought a significant shift in political control over statehouses — and as the country confronted backlash to the election of its first Black president.
Today’s attacks on the vote come from similar sources: the racist voter fraud allegations behind the Big Lie and a desire to prevent future elections from achieving the historic turnout seen in 2020.

Americans’ access to the vote is in unprecedented peril. But Congress can protect it.

The For the People Act, passed by the House and now awaiting action in the Senate, would block many of the state-level restrictions that have been or may soon be enacted into law. ..at least 880 bills with expansive provisions have been introduced in 49 states.3 Of these, at least 28 bills with expansive provisions have been signed into law in 14 states. At least 115 bills with expansive provisions are moving in 25 states: 45 have passed at least one chamber, and 70 have had some sort of committee action.

You can find a resource listing restrictive and expansive state voting legislation by bill number here.

- Restrictive Bills

- Bills Enacted into Law...

Read More,
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-may-2021
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- Also: 'Democrats Losses Ran Wide And Deep,' Politico, *11/16/2011
https://www.politico.com/story/2010/11/democrats-losses-ran-wide-deep-045160

(2011) Republicans have already gained as many as 60 seats in Congress, but when GOP gains are looked at on a state-by-state basis, the bloody picture for Democrats nationwide becomes even more gruesome. Several state legislatures made historic transitions to Republican hands — some for the first time since the 19th century — and nearly an entire generation of state Democrats saw its ranks obliterated. Here is POLITICO’s look at states that saw the political landscape change dramatically...