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Idaho has made some progress in expanding voter access, but advocates say challenges remain. Susan Ripley, president of the League of Women Voters of Idaho, said same-day registration and no-excuse absentee voting, measures that typically increase voter turnout, have laid the groundwork for expanded voter access. Overall, voter registration is up about 5% from 2016, […]

Update: November 2, 3 p.m.: On Monday, Nov. 2, Carson City District Court Judge James Wilson denied the Trump campaign and the Nevada Republican Party’s request to halt and add cameras to observe the review of mailed-in ballots in Clark County, Nevada. “There is no evidence of debasement or dilution of any citizen’s vote,” Wilson wrote […]

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Nebraska sent mail-in ballot applications to all eligible voters for the general election. The move followed a similar effort during the state’s record-smashing primary, when more than 75% of votes were cast by mail. Mailing applications worked well in the primary, said Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU […]

Indigenous Utah residents who live on the Navajo Nation reservation in the southeastern part of the state have gained tools in recent years that will help them vote in the upcoming general election. And through legislation and court battles, access to ballot boxes across the state has also broadened. Voters can register on Election Day, […]

Maine led the nation in voter turnout in both the 2016 presidential election and the 2018 midterms, at nearly 73% and 66%, respectively.  Along with Vermont and Washington, D.C., it stands alone in placing no restrictions on voting by people who have been convicted of a felony, including while they’re in prison. The state extended […]

Voters in Joe Biden’s home state don’t have access to early voting this fall, and if their absentee ballots are delayed in the mail, they won’t count. Delaware also has two laws on the books that research shows disproportionately disenfranchise Black and Latino voters — requiring that particular forms of photo ID be shown at […]

Tens of thousands of Minnesotans with felony convictions are prohibited from voting every year because they haven’t finished serving out the terms of their probation or parole. For years, some lawmakers and voting rights advocates have been trying to restore their right to vote through the legislature and courts. On most other fronts, Minnesota voters […]

Illinois, dominated by Democrats in the legislature in recent years, has among the most open voting access laws in the country. It allows no-excuse mail-in voting and accepts late-arriving ballots for up to two weeks — so long as they’re postmarked by Election Day. In June, Gov. J.B. Pritzker also signed into law an emergency […]

North Carolina has been held up as a state with some of the most restrictive voting laws and rules. But voting rights advocates have had success this year in limiting efforts to erect barriers that disproportionately affect people of color. In August, a federal judge ruled that many of the restrictions to voting will stand […]

Reforms passed in Colorado in 2013 broadened access to the ballot box. They are now a model for other states looking to make it easier for residents to vote. The Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act of 2013 requires ballots to be mailed to every registered voter for most elections, created voting centers where any […]

At the beginning of the pandemic, Oklahoma told its citizens they needed to seek out a notary if they wanted to vote by mail. After a successful lawsuit challenging that, and a counter-move by conservative lawmakers, they can now seek out a copy machine instead. If they don’t get their ballots notarized, Oklahomans must submit […]

Missouri expanded mail-in voting during the pandemic while making it nearly impossible for people to vote this way.  People who want to avoid going to the polls can request a mail-in ballot, but it must be requested in person or by mail. Under the new law, most voters must also have their ballot signatures notarized, […]

Only 57% of eligible New York voters cast a ballot in the 2016 presidential election, 41st for voter turnout in the nation. Participation will likely improve this fall since the state has added early voting and made it easier to get an absentee ballot this year. But until New York drops onerous voter registration deadlines and removes […]

Alabama is the state that brought the lawsuit in 2013 that gutted the Voting Rights Act and allowed other states — mostly southern ones — to immediately pass long-wished-for voter laws and local rules that effectively suppress the Black and Latino vote. Alabama officials continue to defend voter restrictions imposed during the past few years […]

Vermont has gone farther than almost any other state this year in making sure that residents can vote safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily switching to a universal vote-by-mail system in which every registered voter is sent a ballot.  And there are few other barriers to voting in the state. For example, Vermont is joined […]

Hawaii has long been plagued by an abysmal voter turnout rate. In 2018, less than 40% of the state’s voting-eligible population turned up for the general election — the lowest rate in the nation, according to a U.S. Elections Project analysis. But a glimmer of hope emerged this year: Despite the challenges posed by the […]

Georgia was infamous in the last century for its Jim Crow-era poll taxes and other intimidation tactics used to suppress Black citizens’ right to vote. This century, the state is known as an epicenter for battles over restrictive policies that civil-rights activists denounce as modern-day voter suppression.  Eyes are on Georgia because of its reputation […]

Rhode Island is the only “deep blue” state in the country with the kind of strict voter ID law that has disproportionately kept Black, Latino and Native American voters from casting ballots in a number of heavily Republican states.  It will be in place for a November election even though the state’s Department of Motor […]

Offer people more ways to cast their ballot, make it easier and more convenient, and a lot more people will vote. That’s the simple formula that advocates say has worked in Massachusetts. Now they’d like to see temporary changes made to accommodate concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic become permanent, and for the state to adopt […]