Tag Archives: Voting

Karen Figueroa-Clewett, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Leer in español With the general election drawing close, it’s important to know your rights in case your vote is challenged. The best way to ensure that your vote is counted is to advocate for yourself. I’m a civil rights …

Ariana Figueroa, Missouri Independent In Colorado, an error in early October involving voter registration postcards that were mailed to non-citizens in the state morphed into a conspiracy theory about voter fraud. In Iowa, voters in late September received phone calls spreading misinformation about how they could vote, with Iowans falsely told they could cast …

Jonathan Coopersmith, Texas A&M University Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the November 2020 election brought out about 155 million voters. That represented 67% of Americans over 18, and it was the highest voter turnout of any modern election. Americans also set records in the percent and number of people voting early …

Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has loosened voting regulations in the counties most damaged by Hurricane Ian to account for disruptions to polling locations and early voting sites, loss of power and cellphone access, displaced voters, and unavailability of poll workers. The governor signed an executive order …

by Jacob Fischler, Florida Phoenix May 21, 2022 Members of a U.S. Senate panel and election administrators are raising concerns about the challenges elections officials will face this fall, saying problems ranging from a lack of paper to coordinated misinformation campaigns could affect confidence in U.S. democracy. A bipartisan panel …

The Biden administration last week announced that federal agencies will now allow employees to take time off to vote in federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial elections. Employees may also use leave to serve as non-partisan poll workers or observers. Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the new guidance from the …

by Kira Lerner, Missouri Independent February 21, 2022 In mid-December, Texas’ highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general’s ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney. In an 8-1 opinion, the all-Republican court weakened Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to independently …

By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune Feb. 10, 2022 Stricter voting rules enacted by Republican lawmakers last year continue to foil Texans trying to vote by mail in the upcoming primary, with hundreds of completed ballots being initially rejected for not meeting the state’s new identification requirements. The bulk of …

On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas and the Texas Secretary of State over certain restrictive voting procedures imposed by Texas Senate Bill 1, which was signed into law in September. “Our democracy depends on the right of …

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Tuesday vetoed four restrictive absentee ballot bills passed by the Republican Legislature. The Democratic Governor also told two counties in the state not to comply with the Republican head of the Assembly elections committee’s subpoenas to hand over ballots and voting equipment. Republicans do not …

While other states are passing bills to restrict voting access, Maine is expanding access to voting. “Voting is the cornerstone of democracy,” Zachary Heiden, Chief Counsel at ACLU of Maine, said. “This year, at least 17 states have rolled back voting rights, and the Supreme Court continues to undermine the …

Texas House Democrats are asking the state’s Supreme Court to overturn Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of a budget provision that funds the Legislature, charging that his action was unconstitutional. The suit argues that Abbott’s veto, which could lead to about 2,000 legislative staffers not being paid for two years, violates …

Attorney General Merrick Garland says that the Justice Department will aggressively fight nationwide efforts to restrict voting access. Within the next 30 days, the Justice Department is going to double the number of employees in the Civil Rights Division’s “enforcement staff for protecting the right to vote.” “There are many …

Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by activist Stacey Abrams, is launching the ‘Hot Call Summer’ campaign to help mobilize young voters of color around the For The People Act. “We can’t wait any longer for Congress to protect Americans’ freedom to vote, which is why we need …

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin broke with the party on Sunday, announcing that he will not vote for the For the People Act. Manchin, who represents West Virginia, clearly stated his opposition to the sweeping voting rights bill and also said that he would not support Democratic efforts to alter filibuster …