🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Voters in several states will face new hurdles to casting a ballot in the November midterms.
Many states had amended their rules on mail and early voting so voters could cast a ballot without risking their health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 election.
But since the start of 2021, at least 21 states have enacted 42 laws restricting access to voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. At least 33 of those are in effect for this year's midterms in 20 states.
"The Brennan Center has been tracking every piece of voting rights legislation in every state legislature across the country for more than a decade and we've never seen anything like this," Sean Morales-Doyle, the center's director of the voting rights program, told Newsweek.
"It's far more restrictive provisions being passed than we've seen in modern times and many of them will be in effect for the November election."
Liz Avore, Voting Right Lab's senior policy advisor, said that there is a "growing divide" between states that are expanding voting access and states restricting it since the 2020 election.
"While some states, like Nevada and Virginia, have made it more convenient to cast a mail ballot, by expanding secure drop boxes and creating systems to automatically send mail ballots to voters for example, others, like Georgia and Florida, have created new barriers for voters to navigate this election season when casting their ballot by mail," Avore told Newsweek. "This broader trend creates a fault line where Americans' freedom to vote depends on where they live."
Here, Newsweek explains the laws that will make voting more difficult in states that will play a significant role in deciding the balance of the U.S. House and Senate in November.
Arizona
Arizona lawmakers have passed several measures that will impact voting since the 2020 election, but most won't go into effect until 2023 or later.
Senate Bill 1003, which limits the time for "curing" a missing signature on a mail-in ballot to 7 p.m. on election day, will be in effect after a judge in June rejected a challenge to the deadline.
Voters will have five days to cure mail ballots with mismatched signatures or other missing information.
Another law, Senate Bill 1485, turns Arizona's Permanent Early Voting List into an Active Early Voting List, meaning Arizonans will be purged from the list if they go four years without casting a ballot by mail. Although that law is in effect for the 2022 midterms, no voter will be impacted by the law in November.
An analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice found that law will disproportionately impact Black and Latino voters, Morales-Doyle said.
Florida
Senate Bill 90 was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, in May last year.
It imposes a host of new restrictions on voting by mail, including more ID requirements for absentee ballots and requiring voters to request them every election. The law also limits who can pick up and return ballots at drop boxes, which will only be available during regular voting hours when they are monitored by in-person election officials.
The law also bars outside groups from providing water to voters within 150 feet of a voting location.
A judge this year blocked several of the law's provisions, finding it was intentionally racially discriminatory, but the decision was later stayed while the appeal moves forward.
"I think the fact that a district court in Florida entered that order tells you something about the effect that it could have," Morales-Doyle said.
Georgia
Senate Bill 202, a 98-page omnibus bill, was signed into law last year by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and made several changes to absentee, early and in-person voting.
Among the changes were stricter voter ID requirements for requesting and returning a mail ballot, a shortened window to apply for a mail ballot and limits on the number of ballot drop boxes per county.
The earliest voters can request a mail-in ballot will be 11 weeks before the election instead of 180 days. The final deadline to complete an application is earlier too—instead of being able to return an application the Friday before election day, voters now have to return it two Fridays before.
The law also makes it a misdemeanor to hand out food or drinks to voters standing in line at a polling place.
"Georgia has a history, unfortunately, of having very long lines," Morales-Doyle said.
"When people are waiting hours and hours online to vote in Georgia, the idea that it's a crime to provide them with water or a snack to keep them going, is particularly problematic. Our research shows that waiting in line to vote is something that also disproportionately impacts voters of color, so this is another restriction that I think is likely to have disparate racial impact."
Missouri
This year, Missouri lawmakers enacted House Bill 1878.
The law requires Missouri voters to have a valid photo ID to vote and imposes limitations of mail-ballot drop boxes.
It also prohibits anyone who helps people register to vote from being paid as well as efforts to "solicit a voter" into requesting a mail ballot.
"The Missouri bill establishes a relatively strict photo ID requirement and will require voters to complete an affidavit and then return to present ID if they don't have their ID with them," Morales-Doyle said.
New York
New York's Senate Bill 264 shortened the window to apply for a mail ballot.
Previously, New Yorkers could apply to vote by mail all the way until the day before election day.
The new law moved the deadline for applications for mail ballots to 15 days before the election.
"It's one of the earliest deadlines in the country, so I think that will make it harder for people to get a mail ballot in New York," Morales-Doyle said.
However, New York's Constitution requires voters to provide a reason to vote by mail.
"New York has during the pandemic said that that fear of contracting COVID is a reason to apply to vote by mail so people can vote by mail in New York for the time being," Morales-Doyle added.
Texas
The Texas law known as Senate Bill 1 limits how and when people can vote, removing options for drive-thru voting and 24-hour polling locations.
It also imposed stricter voter ID requirements on mail ballots and restricts who can assist a voter in filling out a ballot. Mail voting in Texas is limited to those who are 65 or older, disabled or out of state during the election.
The law requires voters to list an identification number—from their driver's license or the last four digits of their social security number—on their mail ballot application and return envelope, and that number must match the one on file with their voter registration record. Those measures led to almost 25,000 mail ballots being rejected in the state's March primary.
The law also makes it a crime for election officials to promote voting by mail.
Morales-Doyle said the Brennan Center filed a lawsuit in response to the law, and Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria testified that the rule put her at risk of spending six months in jail if she solicited mail ballot applications and "made her concerned about providing the advice to voters necessary to help them navigate these new rules."
Morales-Doyle said: "So voters are facing this new rule about putting an ID number on their application, for instance, and the non-partisan selection official responsible for running elections is worried that if she tells people how to fill out that mail ballot application, she could be accused of soliciting mail ballot applications and then be prosecuted for a crime."
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more