Each year, the Brennan Center publishes regular roundups of voting legislation around the country.
Since the 2020 election, voting legislation has taken on new importance in state legislatures across the country. Starting in 2021 and continuing into this year, lawmakers have aggressively attempted to limit voting access and roll back the gains of an election conducted during the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.
This year, lawmakers are actively pursuing legislation that would allow for partisan interference with the elections process, including proposals that would create processes to overturn election results, criminalize election officials for honest mistakes, or require suspect audits of past and future elections. These bills stand to not only harm existing election administration, but they also undermine voters’ faith in the security of elections.
So far, six states have enacted nine election interference laws. Overall, at least 148 election interference bills have been introduced in 27 states. Meanwhile, two states have enacted two laws that restrict access to the vote. Overall, at least 393 restrictive voting bills have been proposed in 39 state legislatures.
During the same timeframe, pro-voter legislators are pushing back, seeking to expand access to the vote and build on the momentum that led to the biggest voter turnout in over a century in 2020. Thus far, four states have enacted five laws that expand the right to vote. Overall, at least 596 bills with expansive provisions have been proposed in 44 state legislatures.