This weekly update summarizing legislative activity affecting voting and elections is powered by the Voting Rights Lab. Sign up for VRL’s weekly newsletter here.
The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,445 bills so far this session, with 572 bills that tighten the rules governing voter access or election administration and 1,087 bills that expand the rules.
Much of last week’s action focused on voter ID requirements. The Missouri Senate’s Local Government and Elections Committee advanced legislation that would make the state’s voter ID law much stricter. But the Arizona House voted to delay implementation of a new law requiring proof of citizenship until after the 2022 general election. New York made it easier to vote for voters with disabilities, college students, and mail voters.
And Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed more legislation. In this case, the bill would have affected independent election administration.
Looking ahead: The Missouri Senate will consider an omnibus election reform bill if it is able to resolve outstanding impasses concerning other topics, including congressional redistricting.
Here are the details:
Arizona House votes to delay proof of citizenship implementation. Amid lawsuits and Gov. Doug Ducey’s attempt to reject a more extreme interpretation of the legislation, the Arizona House voted to delay the effective date for the new requirement that voters provide evidence of citizenship to vote. This new law would not allow people to vote in presidential elections, or in any elections by mail, unless election officials confirmed the person’s citizenship through documentation provided by the voter or an existing database. This new requirement is currently scheduled to take effect between the primary and general elections this year. If the delay is approved by the Senate and Ducey, the requirement will not take effect until after the 2022 general election.
A bill that creates early voting, but also makes the state ID requirement much stricter, advances out of Missouri elections committee. H.B. 1878 was voted out of Missouri’s Senate Local Government and Elections Committee. The bill would only allow citizens to vote in person if they are able to show a photo ID. Under current Missouri law, voters can prove their identity using a variety of ID types, including utility bills, bank statements and paychecks. Notably, before advancing the bill, the committee added language creating up to six weeks of in-person early voting. Missouri is currently one of only seven states that does not generally offer any type of in-person early voting. The bill will now move to the full Senate for consideration, though the Senate remains deadlocked on other issues – including congressional redistricting – that are slowing down consideration of any legislation.
New York makes casting a ballot easier for those with disabilities, students and mail voters. As part of a settlement, the New York State Board of Elections will allow voters with disabilities to request electronic, accessible ballots up to 15 days before any elections. The ballots will also feature raised markers to aid voters with visual impairments. Last week, the Legislature enacted legislation requiring that all absentee ballots include prepaid return postage. The bill also ensures that there is a polling place on every college campus with 300 or more registered voters. This legislation will make it easier for students to vote, particularing with college campuses are divided into multiple districts.
Wisconsin governor vetoes legislation that would interfere with the administration of elections. On Friday, Evers vetoed two election bills. S.B. 213 would have shifted election authority away from the Wisconsin Election Commission by enabling people to skip a WEC administrative process and directly petition the court to test the validity of any decision on the part of an election official. S.B. 936 would have created a performance audit of voting equipment after each general election and made several changes to how the WEC responds to complaints received about violations of election law and the reporting of those complaints.
Maryland legislature passes legislation strengthening its cure process. Last week, the Maryland General Assembly sent S.B. 163 to the governor’s desk. The bill would ensure that voters who forget to sign the oath on their mail ballot are notified and given a chance to correct their error and have their vote counted.
Colorado protects voting for victims of natural disasters. Colorado enacted S.B. 152, which allows people to maintain their voter registrations after their homes have been destroyed by wildfire or other natural disasters, provided the voter intends to rebuild and move back to their residence. Existing law requires a voter’s registration address to match their motor vehicle registration address and income tax address.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.