In the 2021 legislative session, Governor Doug Ducey signed:

SB 1485, which purges the highly-popular Permanent Early Vote List. Advocates estimate this could purge up to 125,000 voters—including 30,000 Latino voters.

SB 1003, which requires that unsigned ballots be cured by 7pm on Election Day.

HB 2794, which shifts elections authority to the Legislature and enforces this shift by creating a new Class 6 felony for any state or local official to modify any election-related statutory deadline.

HB 2569, which prohibits elections officials from using private funding/grants to administer elections.

HB 2905, which makes it a felony for election officials to mail unsolicited mail ballots to voters.

The budget bill SB 1819, which:

• • Takes the power to defend election-related lawsuits away from the Secretary of State (D) and gives that power to the Attorney General (R) — but only for the duration of the current Secretary of State’s term.
  • Establishes an official legislative Special Committee on sham audits to review the results of the Maricopa audit and give policy recommendations,
  • Creates new provisions for hologram paper for ballot printing,
  • Creates a joint commission to investigate conspiracy theories on social media’s influence on elections, 
  • Authorizes the Attorney General and third parties hired by the legislature to go through the voter database and purge voters.

But thanks to your calls to the legislature, SB 1713, SB 1241, and SB 1083 were defeated in a bipartisan vote!

SB 1713 would have forced Arizona voters to include personal information on their ballot envelopes, exposing them to unnecessary risk of identity theft and making it harder for them to vote by mail. These new burdens will disproportionately jeopardize voters of color, Native voters, senior voters, low-income voters, disabled voters, and military voters. Seniors are most likely to be among the 60,000+ registered voters who lack a driver’s license number on their voter registration; 1 in 5 people over 70 lacks a driver’s license. The bill did not appropriate funds to help these voters obtain the required identification.

SB 1241 would have allowed ballots with uncured mismatched signatures to be sent to prosecutors for possible investigation.

SB 1083 would have required recounts in more situations.  

On March 25, Governor Brian Kemp signed voter suppression bill SB 202 into law. 

Your tremendous activism and pushback made this bill less harmful than it was originally, but it is still largely focused on intimidating voters and election workers, hoarding election administration power, and disrupting local control and certification. What’s in SB 202?

Wins:

• Maintains early vote and weekend voting in general election
• Preserves no-fault absentee voting 
• Protects automatic voter registration
• Keeps drop boxes, but they must be inside, must be surveilled, and there is only 1 per every 100,000 voters
• Allows vote tabulation to begin in advance, on the third Monday before Election Day
• Repeals signature match

Suppressive new policies:

• Shortens absentee ballot request period
• Shortens absentee application return deadline
• Bans out-of-precinct voting except for 5-7pm on Election Day
• Requires submission of a photocopy of ID for voters without state ID/driver’s license 
• Adds date of birth requirement for absentee ballots
• Outlaws private funding for elections administration
• Shortens runoff period
• Encourages mass voter challenge “caging,” with sanctions for counties in noncompliance
• Allows for elections board takeovers at the state and local levels 
• Bans mobile voting except under limited emergency circumstances
• Imposes new restrictions on polling location hours extensions
• Criminalizes line warming, or handing water and snacks to voters in line
• Adds new misdemeanors related to voter privacy and third-party ballot applications

On May 7, Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 90 into law. 

This law will:

• Cruelly restrict line warming.
• Dramatically limit access to drop boxes to only during early voting hours. In many counties, this is limited to eight hours a day and for just eight days in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Dropboxes must also be staffed by an election worker at all times. County election supervisors will be subject to a $25,000 fine if they do not adhere to the legislature’s strict rules, which will further disincentive election officials from making drop boxes widely available. 
• Require voters to renew their mail ballot application every election cycle, or two years. Previously, applications were valid for up to two election cycles, or four years.
• Impose burdensome ID requirements on voters requesting a mail ballot and prohibit Floridians from voting by mail if they do not have a driver’s license, state ID, or social security number.

In 2021, GOP legislators introduced a package of 39 voter suppression bills that would restrict Michiganders’ freedom to vote, including:

• SB 285, which makes it harder to vote using a mail-in ballot by forcing voters to show a specific type of photo ID in order to request an absentee ballot. If a voter requests a ballot by mail, they must have a printer with color ink just to make a copy of their ID.
• SB 286, which removes the right to return an absentee ballot to a drop box after 5pm on the day before Election Day–three hours before polls close.
• SB 287, which forces voters to pay to return their mail ballot by banning clerks from providing prepaid postage on return envelopes.
• SB 297, which creates unnecessary red tape that makes it harder for clerks to conduct their work, by requiring the county clerk to receive the approval of the board of canvassers for each assistant the clerks hire to help perform election-related duties.
• SB 303, which forces voters to carry a specific type of ID to vote in person and eliminates the ability of in-person voters to sign an affidavit in lieu of providing an acceptable photo ID to cast a regular ballot. If a voter cannot provide that ID, they are forced to cast a provisional ballot.
• SB 304, which places extreme burdens on voters who cast a provisional ballot.
• SB 310, which bans the Secretary of State from sending absentee ballot applications to voters who did not first request one. It also prohibits the Secretary from providing a direct link to the online application on the Secretary’s website.

Other anti-voter bills include:

• HB 4132, which creates new felonies for persons who knowingly fill out and submit an mail ballot application containing another person’s name or identifying information.
• HB 4133, would amend the code of criminal procedures to classify the violations in HB 4132 as Class E felonies, punishable by a statutory maximum of five years’ imprisonment.

But because Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) has promised to veto any anti-voter bills that reach her desk, Republicans are using a unique state constitutional provision that allows them to circumvent both the Governor’s veto and the voters and instead adopt the provisions directly into law. Through the state’s “initiative petition” process, all they need to do is collect around 340,000 signatures. The petition includes the following voter suppression provisions:

• Requires collecting last four digits of SSN on voter registration applications;
• Enacts strict photo ID requirements;
• Requires additional personally identifiable information on absentee ballot applications; and
• Prohibits private funding for election administration.

Thanks to your advocacy, HB 429—which would have revoked college IDs as a valid form of identification at the polls in addition to requiring that colleges offer in-state tuition to students who vote in NH—was defeated, and many other bills were retained for later consideration. 

In July 2021, the NH Supreme Court issued a pro-voter opinion when they struck down an amendment to the 2017 law, SB 3, that added a new strict proof of residency requirement to the state’s voter registration law and created new criminal penalties. 

The following bills, which were retained in committee, could be picked up at a later date: 

• SB 54, which would require voters to provide their driver’s license number or non-driver ID number and the last four digits of their SSN with their absentee ballot applications.
• HB 292, which establishes new ID requirements for voters requesting mail ballots; if the ballot is being sent to any address different from the one the voter has on file, they will be required to provide additional identification documentation—either a copy of a photo ID that meets state requirements, or a notarized signature on the mail ballot application.
• HB 86, which would eliminate same-day voter registration and effectively ban out-of-state college students from voting by requiring students who wish to vote in NH to prove they receive in-state tuition.
• HB 531, which would introduce unconstitutional provisional ballots and target new Americans by requiring extensive citizenship documentation at the polls.
• HB 554, which similarly tries to intimidate young people by introducing confusing residency requirements. 

In July 2021, Governor Snunu (R) signed HB 523, which requires any registrants who do not have a qualifying ID to have their photos taken at the clerk’s office in addition to completing a qualified voter affidavit. He also signed SB 89, which creates a confusing and duplicitous election system for federal and state/local elections, in retaliation against the possible passage of the For The People Act.

SB 105, the budget passed by both chambers, would:

• Make it harder for the NC State Board of Elections and the Attorney General to settle lawsuits, making the Board less responsive to the needs of voters. 
• Strip power from the State Board of Elections.

The following have passed the Senate and will soon be voted on in the state House committee:

• SB 326: Changes deadline for returning a mail ballot to 7:30pm on Election Day
• SB 724: Commits N.C. State Board of Elections dollars to enforce state’s photo ID law and will mess up state’s new online voter registration platform
• SB 725: Bans private funding for elections

Additional bills the Legislature is considering include:

HB 766, which will make soliciting/accepting private money for election administration a Class I felony.

HB 782, which will:

• Require all mail ballots returned by 5pm on Election Day and would require counties to throw away all absentee ballots received after 5pm, potentially denying tens of thousands of North Carolinians — including seniors and veterans — the opportunity to have their vote counted. State law currently includes a three day grace period to allow domestic ballots mailed on or before Election Day to be delivered and counted by election officials;
• Add 3 days to the beginning of the vote-by-mail timeline — a false voter protection — because it requires voters to make their candidate picks earlier than in-person voters. It would force working families, homebound older adults, and those with disabilities, to vote up to 10 days earlier than those who vote in person.

HB 606, which requires that General Assembly leaders give permission for any litigation against state laws written by the legislature. This bill is in response to last year’s settlement that extended the deadline for local election boards to receive mail ballots.

The Ohio Legislature is considering two anti-voter bills, HB 294 and HB 387. 

HB 294 would:

• Explicitly prohibit drop boxes in locations other than the county board of elections office; the office would only be allowed to provide a maximum of three drop boxes during the 10 days immediately before Election Day 
• Eliminate Monday early voting, one of the busiest final days of early voting. 
• Cut off mail ballot requests from 3 days before the election to10 days before the election. In 2020, some 451,863 Ohio voters requested a ballot during the final week that HB 294 would eliminate. In that time, 90%, 413,093 voters requested and returned their ballots.
• If a mail ballot is not inside TWO envelopes— the inner envelope and the outer return envelope—the ballot would be rejected. Ohio Republicans are trying the same anti-voter tactic Pennsylvania Republicans did, to reject more ballots.
• Prohibit any public official from providing prepaid return postage for mail ballot applications or return envelopes.

For more, go to https://ohioantivoterbill.com/

HB 387 would dramatically reduce early voting, ban ballot dropboxes, eliminate vote-by-mail, and impose strict photo ID requirements.

We did it! Because of your calls and advocacy, on June 30, Governor Tom Wolf vetoed an omnibus anti-voter bill, HB 1300, stating it was “the latest scheme by Republican legislators to suppress your freedom to vote” and “riddled with voting barriers.” HB 1300 would have:

• Established a new Bureau of Election Audits within the Auditor General’s office, shifting all audit authority from county elections boards and the Department of State, and requiring that the new bureau conduct result-confirming audits of each election
• Eliminated the permanent early voting list
• Required that under certain conditions, after an election, every ballot cast be open to public inspection 
• Altered the powers and duties of county elections boards 
• Removed the authority of boards to make rules, regulations, and instructions.
• Moved the voter registration deadline up by 15 days, requiring voters to register a full month before Election Day
• Moved the deadline to request a mail ballot from 7 days to 15 days before Election Day
• Required signature match
• Banned private funding for elections
• Included stricter photo ID requirements 

But the Senate did pass SB 735, which proposes a constitutional amendment that would require photo ID.

And Pennsylvania’s voters are not out of the clear with HB 1300 or a similar omnibus anti-voter bill yet. Following extremist Arizona legislators’ unfounded audit of the 2020 election results and bowing to public pressure from former President Trump and other Republicans, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman renewed the chamber’s effort to launch a baseless investigation of the state’s 2020 election results. Senator Cris Dush, chairman of the committee leading the review, and Corman provided little detail as to what it would entail or how it will be conducted. And there is little indication how this taxpayer funded investigation will be different from other inquiries already completed earlier this year by three other legislative committees. What is clear is that anti-voter legislators will use this sham review to fuel future anti-voting legislation and undermine the democratic process when they don’t get their way. 

This push comes in spite of the fact that the state already ran an official statewide post-election audit and every county conducted its own audit, and every lawsuit challenging the state’s election results failed–all confirming that the election was free, fair and legitimate. Pennsylvania’s voters need your help to demand that their elected officials stop undermining our democracy through sham reviews. 

After House Democrats courageously walked out and blocked the massive anti-voter bill SB 7 during Texas’ regular legislative session back in July, Republicans reintroduced a similar bill during the state’s special session called by Governor Abbott just weeks later. Unfortunately, this time Republicans successfully passed their sweeping anti-voter bill, now known as SB 1, with members of both parties voting against it. Governor Abbott signed the bill into law on September 7, 2021.

SB 1 will:

• Curtail the vote-by-mail process
• Allow partisan poll watchers to monitor and intimidate voters and election workers inside polling locations
• Create new requirements, under penalty of perjury, for those who help voters—including disabled voters—cast their ballots
• Ban 24-hour/drive thru voting
  

Additionally, while SB 7 was originally defeated in the regular session, several standalone bills that incorporated some of its worst provisions were enacted.

• HB 574 would create a second degree felony for knowingly counting invalid votes or not counting valid votes. 
• HB 2283 would limit the ability of local elections officials to accept private donations. Cash donations less than $1000 would need to be approved by the governing body of the relevant political subdivision. Cash donations of $1000 or more would need to be approved by the Secretary of State.
• HB 3920 would require a voter to affirm a disability that meets the statutory definition on the mail ballot application.
• SB 1111 would require a voter who receives an address confirmation notice for an address that is a commercial PO or otherwise does not correspond to a residential address to provide documentation of their residence when returning the notice.
• SB 1113 would allow the Secretary of State to withhold funds from any registrar who fails to perform statutory list maintenance duties.

On August 10, Governor Tony Evers (D) vetoed six voter suppression bills which the state Assembly had passed earlier in the summer. These bills would have:

• Required all voters to provide a copy of their ID when they request an absentee ballot;
• Ended the current practice of accepting absentee ballot envelopes as applications themselves, instead requiring that absentee ballot applications be separate documents; 
• Prohibited clerks or the Elections Commission from sending ballots to voters who have not requested one; 
• Restricted where and when absentee ballots can be collected;
• Made it a felony for nursing home staff who help residents fill out their ballots to influence their votes;
• Imposed strict criminal penalties and fines on election officials;
• And more.