As GOP-controlled state legislatures across the country are systematically limiting marginalized voters’ access to the polls (see “Smoking Gun,” page 13), other state legislatures are pushing against this trend by passing laws to make the voting process more accessible—and more democratic.
According to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, between January 1 and December 7 of last year, a period during which thirty-four restrictive voting laws were passed in nineteen states, “at least twenty-five states enacted sixty-two expansive laws.”
Here’s a taste of the progressive voting practices and principles that states successfully implemented in 2021:
Expanding Early Voting and Vote-By-Mail Systems
California, Nevada, and Vermont all switched to entirely or primarily vote-by-mail systems, which are already the norm in five other states: Washington, Colorado, Utah, Hawaii, and Oregon. Oregon was the first state to make the switch; it’s been vote-by-mail-only since 2000.
Illinois established a permanent absentee voting list (which allows voters to receive ballots in the mail without the need to request one before each election), joining the ranks of six other states: Arizona, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, and Virginia.
Kentucky, which has a divided government—a GOP-led legislature and a Democratic governor—passed a law allowing for three days of early voting and an extended grace period for fixing signatures on mail-in ballots.
Widening Voter Eligibility
Washington, New York, and Connecticut passed laws automatically restoring voting eligibility to ex-felons after the completion of their prison sentences (as compared to after the completion of parole and/or probation). Eighteen other states have already adopted similar laws. Two additional states, Maine and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C., guarantee the right to vote to all felons, even during their incarceration.
Delaware established automatic voter registration at DMVs and other government agencies. This relatively new practice was first adopted in Oregon in 2016; after witnessing its success, twenty-one other states and Washington, D.C., adopted similar automatic registration policies.
Diversifying Ballot Access
Colorado passed a law requiring clerks of counties with a substantial number of primarily non-English-speaking residents to provide a ballot in those minority languages. It also establishes a “multilingual ballot hotline” to assist voters in filling out their ballots.
Nevada, North Carolina, and Colorado are starting to make online voting available to voters with certain disabilities (previously, this option was largely only available to those voting overseas or while serving in the military).
Pushing Back on Partisan Meddling
Virginia became the first state to pass its own Voting Rights Act, which requires election officials throughout the state to seek approval before implementing changes to the voting process and “prohibits at-large local elections if they dilute the voting power of racial minorities.”