Tracking and Understanding Voting Legislation in Your State

Corporation grantee the Brennan Center has produced a tracker and roundup of the voting bills — both restrictive and expansive — already introduced by lawmakers in 2021

By Carnegie Corporation of New York March 30, 2021

Voting

In a few short months, hundreds of bills aimed at election processes and voting rules — both restrictive and expansive — have been introduced in the 2021 legislative session. In an effort to help Americans track how their state leaders are responding to the 2020 election season, which saw record turnout and increased mail voting, and to keep the process of democracy reform as transparent as possible, the Brennan Center, a Carnegie Corporation of New York grantee, has created a State Voting Bills Tracker that allows for the tracking of specific bills introduced by state, and what those bills cover.

As of February 19, 2021, state lawmakers have carried over, prefiled, or introduced 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access in 43 states, and 704 bills with provisions that expand voting access in a different set of 43 states, according to the Brennan Center.

For a more detailed overview of the bills that have been introduced so far, as well as the areas they would affect — voter ID laws, voter registration opportunities, and early voting, among others — the Brennan Center has produced “Voting Laws Roundup.” This online resource provides overviews of the bills that restrict voting access, such as limiting who can vote by mail and imposing new or more stringent voter ID requirements, and bills that expand voting access, such as permitting all voters to vote by mail and making voter registration easier.

TOP: Election workers count Fulton County ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 4, 2020. (Credit: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)