U.S. media “Salon (salon)” reported on March 2, tracking the legislative direction of New York University School of Law Brennan Center for Justice (Brennan Center for Justice) analysis pointed out that, as of March 24, the country’s 47 states introduced a total of 361 election integrity voting bills, than five weeks ago on February 19, added 108, an increase of up to That’s a 43 percent increase from five weeks ago on February 19.
Five election integrity bills have been signed into law, with Georgia Governor Kemp’s election law amendments signed into law last week as the most comprehensive set of restrictions, Iowa’s governor’s bill signed in March making early voting more difficult, Arkansas passing two bills to tighten voter ID rules, and Utah approving a new law requiring clerks to use death certificate data to purge dead voters.
The Brennan Center for Justice says there are at least 55 more election integrity bills about to pass through 24 state legislatures, 29 of which have been passed by one of those state legislatures, while another 26 have advanced to committee. Most of these pending bills would restrict vote-by-mail voting, about a quarter have enhanced voter ID requirements, and some would make it more difficult to register to vote, expand the purge of “inactive” voters, and limit voting hours.
The Texas Legislature has introduced 49 election integrity bills, the most in the country. The state of Joe, whose legislative session ended Thursday, is in second place with 25 bills. Arizona, with 23 election integrity bills, is third.
Florida lawmakers have advanced a bill that would outlaw ballot drop boxes, prohibit anyone other than immediate family members from submitting ballots on behalf of others and reduce the amount of time individuals spend on absentee voter lists.
New Hampshire lawmakers have introduced 10 election integrity bills, including eliminating Election Day voter registration, banning the use of college ID cards to vote, prohibiting students from using college addresses to vote and requiring absentee voters to provide more identifying information.
Michigan lawmakers introduced eight election integrity bills in one day last week, requiring photo ID for both in-person and mail-in ballots, banning online mail-in ballot applications, prohibiting election officials from sending mail-in ballot applications to voters who did not request them, limiting the use of ballot drop boxes and expanding the use of poll watchers.
The heat is on! Meanwhile, proposals to further liberalize voting are in the works. The leftist Salon website says that, according to the analysis, a total of 843 ballot-liberalization bills have been introduced in 47 states, nine of which have passed the relevant state legislatures and are awaiting signature to take effect, and 41 of which have passed one of the relevant state legislatures. At least 112 other ballot access bills have progressed in 31 states.
Of the 843 bills, more than one-third address absentee voting, an extra one-fifth plan to release voter registration, others propose to expand early voting, and some would restore voting rights to people with prior criminal convictions.
The nine bills that have been signed into law include bills to expand early voting in Massachusetts, to improve access to voting for voters with disabilities in Montana, to create early voting in New Jersey, to expand automatic voter registration in New York, and to expand access to voting for voters with disabilities, early voting and pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-old voters in Virginia.
https://www.salon.com/2021/04/02/gop-voting-restriction-push-grows-
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