• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. voting rights>

More voting restrictions have been signed into law this year than ever before

Sara Swann
https://twitter.com/saramswann?lang=en
May 28, 2021
hard to vote
erhui1979/Getty Images

States have enacted a greater number of restrictive voting laws in 2021 than in any previous year — and they've done so at a rapid pace.

As of mid-May, 14 states had signed into law 22 provisions restricting access to the ballot box, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which has been tracking state voting legislation. This year's total shatters the previous record-high from 2011, when 14 states enacted 19 restrictive voting bills by October of that year.

The heightened activity around voting legislation is a direct result of the 2020 election, in which states were forced to make last-minute and temporary changes to accommodate voters during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, Republicans have been largely pushing limitations to voting access, while Democrats are advocating for expansions.


The last time the country saw such a concentrated effort to restrict voting access was a decade ago. Following the 2010 elections, Republicans gained significant control in state legislatures, allowing them to steer the policy agenda and approve limits on voting access.

Now, states are seeing a new wave of voting restrictions, mostly aimed at absentee voting. Included in the 22 bills already enacted this year are provisions reducing the time voters have to request and return a mail ballot, limiting access to ballot drop boxes and imposing stricter signature or voter ID requirements for mail voting.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Other restrictions that have been approved include reduced hours for early in-person voting, eliminating Election Day voter registration, limiting polling place availability, and banning snacks and water hand-outs for voters waiting in line.

With one-third of the state legislatures still in session, more bills could be on their way. There are 61 measures with restrictive provisions advancing in those statehouses, and half of them have already passed one chamber. At least 389 restrictive voting bills have been introduced across the country this year.

At the same time, many states have also been pushing to ease access to the ballot box. At least 880 such bills have been introduced in almost every state this year. Of these bills, 28 have been signed into law in 14 states. Another 115 of these bills are advancing through statehouses, with two-fifths of them already passed in one chamber.

Some of the provisions included in these bills include expanding early voting opportunities, adding ballot drop boxes, making it easier to register to vote, bolstering vote-by-mail access and restoring voting rights for people with past felony convictions.

From Your Site Articles
  • Nationwide push for voting restrictions barrels forward - The Fulcrum ›
  • States see fresh wave of bills to curb voting rights - The Fulcrum ›
  • State lawmakers seek changes to voting rights laws - The Fulcrum ›
  • Texas Dems block voting restrictions, but amp up dysfunction - The Fulcrum ›
  • Voter ID laws pose significant barriers to trans voters - The Fulcrum ›
  • The 13 states limiting voting access under the radar - The Fulcrum ›
  • Report: 30 new laws restrict voting access in 18 states - The Fulcrum ›
  • How voting has changed in the 5 most populous states - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Map: See where lawmakers have introduced bills that would make it ... ›
  • The States Where Efforts To Restrict Voting Are Escalating ... ›
  • Voting laws proposed by Republicans in 43 states would limit voter ... ›
voting rights

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

Our Staff
17 March

Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
17 March

Reframing judicial elections — not “who should we elect,” but “why should we elect them at all?”

Alexander Vanderklipp
16 March

Seven Days in March

Lawrence Goldstone
16 March

Video: Modernizing Congress: The business case to upgrade government

Our Staff
16 March

Something is horribly, horribly wrong

Debilyn Molineaux
15 March
Videos

Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

Our Staff

Video: What would happen if Trump was a third-party candidate in 2024?

Our Staff

Video: How the Federal Reserve is the shadow branch of the government

Our Staff

Video: 2023 National Week of Conversation

Our Staff

Video: Bipartisan lunch with lawmakers: Making elections work better in PA

Our Staff

Video: Antisemitism and its impacts

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: A tricky dance

Our Staff
14 March

Podcast: Kevin, Tucker and wokism, oh my!

Debilyn Molineaux
David Riordan
13 March

Podcast: Civic learning amid the culture wars

Our Staff
13 March

Podcast: Winning legislative majorities

Our Staff
09 March
Recommended
Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

Your Take
Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

Threats against Michigan women leaders highlight ongoing concerns over political violence

Big Picture
Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

Reframing judicial elections — not “who should we elect,” but “why should we elect them at all?”

Reframing judicial elections — not “who should we elect,” but “why should we elect them at all?”

Judicial
Seven Days in March

Seven Days in March

Threats to democracy
Video: Modernizing Congress: The business case to upgrade government

Video: Modernizing Congress: The business case to upgrade government

Congress