Democratic efforts to expand voter rights are gaining ground in 2023

Read more about what's happening in battleground states across the country.

By Michael Gribbon

States across the country are moving in opposite directions when it comes to enacting new laws pertaining to voting rights and access.

Most of this movement has been across party lines, with Republican-led states such as Idaho and Florida passing new laws that restrict voter rights and access while Democratic-led states such as California, Michigan and New York all are increasing voters' rights and access to ballots.

The data shown on the map above comes from the Voting Rights Lab, an organization that advocates for voters' rights and against voter suppression. The lab determined whether each state's newly enacted laws expand or restrict access, or have a mixed outcome for voters.

According to an October report published by the lab, well over 5,000 election and voting rights bills have been introduced across the country since the 2020 election. With more than 500 of them being enacted by states.

In Congress, Republican lawmakers have continued to block Democratic attempts to pass federal legislation that would set election standards nationwide.

Ahead of the 2020 election, promoted by the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every state adjusted its voter systems and processes to expand mail-in and early voting making casting a ballot more accessible and safe. However, baseless conspiracies over the legitimacy of the 2020 election have fueled some states to restrict voting leading up to 2024.

These changes will vastly impact the upcoming 2024 election, not only for voters but for election workers as well.

Swing states are changing their laws more than ever. In 2020, the presidential election was determined in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania by only a few percentage points. With margins so thin, changes in laws regarding voting rights and access may wield a profound effect on the outcome of races in 2024.

Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania were all strongholds for conspiracy theories and election challenges in 2020 and 2022. Similar activities are expected after the 2024 election.

Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania have been particularly hard hit by high turnover rates of local election offices, potentially leading to staff shortages in the coming year.

In Georgia, newly enacted laws allow for more challenges to voter registration. En masse, this could overwhelm understaffed election offices across the state if people seek to challenge 2024 results.

On the other hand, Nevada lawmakers made permanent the expanded mail voting access rules put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that every registered voter will receive a mail-in ballot in 2024.

According to the president of the Young Democrats of Nevada, Maria Nieto Orta, the state "has led the country in terms of voting accessibility... including vote by mail, same day voter registration, automatic voter registration, expanding voting sites, and allowing voting from any polling site across the state."

UNLV Young Republicans declined an interview request from Annenberg Media to talk about changes in voting laws in Nevada leading up to the 2024 election.

New laws have also improved access for Indigenous communities and incarcerated individuals.

Further new requirements in Nevada mean that counties will have to perform risk-limiting audits of elections prior to certification in 2024. Voter rights activists like Nieto Orta in Nevada hope that this will provide increased confidence in elections.

Additional protection has also been passed in Nevada to protect election officials and workers from threats of force, intimidation and coercion.

"We've seen so much in the last couple of elections with people showing up with guns, you know, people being like, don't go in to vote or threatening people." Nieto Orta said. "Senate Bill 406, which made it a felony to harass, threaten or intimidate election workers ... is one of the really big bills that we have to celebrate."

Similarly in Michigan, Democrats have passed the nation's biggest package of bills to increase access to voting, expanding early voting and improving mail-in ballot tracking procedures.

Click on the states listed above to learn more about voting rights changes and the impact they are having on everyday people.

This voting rights project was reported by students in American Democracy in Crisis, a new class created at Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism in response to the January 6, 2021 insurrection.