Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

The state of voting: August 1, 2022

The state of voting: August 1, 2022

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 2,185 bills so far this session, with 579 bills that tighten voter access or election administration and 1,041 bills that expand the rules. The rest are neutral or mixed or unclear in their impact.


Georgia is processing thousands of challenges to voter registrations following the enactment of a new law authorizing such challenges. And Texas’ Harris County was selected as the only one of 254 counties to be audited in consecutive election cycles.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a package of election bills, including legislation that helps facilitate mail voting. A Nevada court declared a proposed voter ID ballot initiative unconstitutional. And North Carolina begins voter registration for residents regaining their right to vote after a felony conviction.

Here are the details:

New Jersey enacts legislation to facilitate mail voting. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a package of election bills, including legislation that facilitates mail voting. A.B. 3822 allows election officials to begin tabulating mail ballots prior to Election Day. A.B. 3817 allows voters to request mail ballots through an online portal. It also allows voters to sign up for the permanent vote-by-mail list, as well as make changes to their voter registration, online. Meanwhile, A.B. 3832 aims to boost poll worker recruitment by exempting poll worker compensation from state income tax and unemployment eligibility. The bill also requires an additional review of death records two months before an election.

Nevada court declares voter ID ballot initiative unconstitutional. Last Friday, a Nevada state court ruled that a ballot initiative designed to create stricter voter ID requirements violates the state’s constitution. The initiative would have created a strict photo ID requirement for in-person voting and would have restricted the types of IDs voters could use to verify their identity when curing mail ballots. The court ruled that by imposing new costs on the state without providing a mechanism for funding, the initiative would create an unfunded mandate, which is forbidden by the Nevada constitution.

Voter registration begins for North Carolinians on probation and parole. On Wednesday, North Carolina residents who are on probation or parole due to felony convictions regained their right to vote thanks to a March court ruling. This change is expected to impact 56,000 individuals who previously would not have been able to vote until they completed every term of their sentence, including probation or parole. North Carolina is among the 24 states where citizens with past felony convictions can vote while on community supervision.

Georgia processes mass challenges to voter registrations, following passage of new law authorizing such challenges. In Georgia’s six most populous counties, the registrations of over 25,000 voters have been challenged by other registered voters in 2022 alone. These challenges were authorized by last year’s S.B. 202.

Texas selects Harris County for consecutive audits. The Texas Secretary of State’s office announced that the four counties selected for randomized audits following the November 2022 election are Harris, Cameron, Guadalupe and Eastland counties. The randomized audits will be conducted due to the enactment of S.B. 1 in 2021. As one of the four counties audited following the 2020 election, Harris will be the only one of Texas’s 254 counties to be audited in consecutive election cycles.

Read More

Trump Shows That Loyalty Is All That Matters to Him

Guests in the audience await the arrival of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during the Federalist Society's Executive Branch Review Conference at The Mayflower Hotel on April 25, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images/TNS

Trump Shows That Loyalty Is All That Matters to Him

Last week, the Court of International Trade delivered a blow to Donald Trump’s global trade war. It found that the worldwide tariffs Trump unveiled on “Liberation Day” as well his earlier tariffs pretextually aimed at stopping fentanyl coming in from Mexico and Canada (as if) were beyond his authority. The three-judge panel was surely right about the Liberation Day tariffs and probably right about the fentanyl tariffs, but there’s a better case that, while bad policy, the fentanyl tariffs were not unlawful.

Please forgive a lengthy excerpt of Trump’s response on Truth Social, but it speaks volumes:

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Strikes Iran Nuclear Sites: Trump’s Pivot Amid Middle East Crisis

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine discusses the mission details of a strike on Iran during a news conference at the Pentagon on June 22, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia.

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

U.S. Strikes Iran Nuclear Sites: Trump’s Pivot Amid Middle East Crisis

In his televised address to the nation Saturday night regarding the U.S. strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump declared that the attacks targeted “the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.” He framed the operation as a necessary response to decades of Iranian aggression, citing past attacks on U.S. personnel and Tehran’s support for militant proxies.

While those justifications were likely key drivers, the decision to intervene was also shaped by a complex interplay of political strategy, alliance dynamics, and considerations of personal legacy.

Keep ReadingShow less
What if We Fired the Parties?

"They want us divided sign" that represents partisanship among democrats and republicans.

Getty Images, Jena Ardell

What if We Fired the Parties?

Like many Americans, I have been increasingly disappointed by the candidates promoted by political parties because they tend to back candidates who are ultimately focused on personal gain and/or only advancing issues predetermined by party priorities while moving further away from responding to the needs of their constituents. According to The Guardian, in the 2024 election, the number of eligible voters who did not cast their ballot is more than the total of those who voted for either of the party candidates. So, maybe the real issue is that our political party system just isn’t working for most Americans anymore. Assuming this is even partially true, what if, instead of just complaining about the parties or holding our noses and voting for the "lesser evil" every November, we actually fired the parties—took away their grip on our democracy and built something better.

For decades, we've been told we only have two choices. But more and more Americans don't feel truly represented by either major party. We're exhausted by the noise, the blame games, the endless culture wars that solve nothing and only serve to increasingly marginalize portions of our citizenry. Americans want real solutions on housing, healthcare, education, wages, and the future we're leaving for the next generation. And we're not getting them. So, maybe it's time to ask a radical but necessary question: What if the problem isn't just the candidates but the political party system that keeps producing them?

Keep ReadingShow less
The Medical Community Tells Congress That Telehealth Needs Permanent Federal Support
person wearing lavatory gown with green stethoscope on neck using phone while standing

The Medical Community Tells Congress That Telehealth Needs Permanent Federal Support

WASHINGTON–In March 2020, Stephanie Hendrick, a retired teacher in Roanoke, Virginia, contracted COVID-19, a virus that over 110 million people in the U.S. would contract over the next couple of years.

She recovered from the initial illness, but like many, she soon began experiencing long COVID symptoms. In the early months of the pandemic, hospitals and medical centers prioritized care for individuals with active COVID-19 infections, and pandemic restrictions limited travel and in-person treatment for other medical conditions. Hendrick’s options for care for long COVID were limited.

Keep ReadingShow less