Citing the need to assure Americans that elections will no longer be “rigged” — despite the lack of evidence of widespread fraud in 2020 — Republican lawmakers in 43 states have introduced 253 bills to restrict ballot access. The greatest activity has been in battleground states, especially Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Measures involve early voting, mail-in ballots, drop boxes, mobile voting facilities, and rules to disqualify ballots received after Election Day that cannot be overruled by the executive branch or the courts. They have the greatest potential impact on poor people, African Americans, and Latinos.
These measures face an uncertain future in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina, where Republicans have majorities in both houses of the legislature, but the governors are Democrats with the power to veto bills designed to suppress voting.
