This election season, voters in a majority of U.S. states faced new restrictive voting laws since the last presidential election in 2020, said an ABA panel of election law experts.
November 04, 2024 Elections
Election 2024: State of U.S. voting rights
Gathered on Oct. 10 for the American Bar Association’s Ninth Annual State of Voting Rights webinar, the advocates discussed the passage of these election-related measures by state legislatures, how those measures will impact U.S. voters and the legal landscape surrounding the 2024 ballot box.
Rick Hansen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said there has been an “explosion” of election litigation surrounding this year’s vote.
Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, noted that the ACLU has seen an “unfortunate and troubling trend in the ‘criminalization’ of voting.” People who help voters overcome barriers to voting and people just being kind by providing water and food to people in line are being criminalized in places like Georgia, she said.
Lakin also noted court cases around the country involving voter purges, issues around certification as well as state matters on gerrymandering and redistricting.
Elaborating further, Andrew Garber, counsel for the Voting Rights Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said that changes to state voting laws over the last four years have been unprecedented.
Garber said that since January 2021, at least 30 states have added laws to make it harder to vote. He said the rate of restrictive state laws in the last four years has doubled than what we saw in the previous eight years, noting more hurdles to mail-in ballots, shrinking early-voting times and a reduced number of polling places as just a few examples.
Despite these hurdles, panelists noted important wins for voting rights.
Lakin said African American voters in Alabama will vote in November for the first time under a new congressional map, thanks to Allen v. Milligan, which opened up two districts for Black voters to select candidates of their choice.
Khyla Craine, deputy legal director with the Michigan Department of State, said that nine days of early voting allows people to vote when their schedules allow, a big victory in her state.
Among other examples of voter expansion, Garber pointed out fresh laws in Nevada and New Mexico that will make it easier for Native American voters to cast a ballot, and other state laws on automatic voter registration and those that defend against election interference.
The ACLU continues to monitor issues involving voting rights and voter access, said Lakin, noting a particular eye on the battleground states.
Hansen said he hopes it doesn’t come down to the U.S. Supreme Court deciding the outcome of the election. “We should all agree it’s better when elections are decided by the people than the courts,” he said.
Related links:
- ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice
- Webinar stream: Ninth Annual State of Voting Rights
- ABA Journal: