Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election

Number of bills restricting ballot access introduced after the 2020 presidential election as of March 24, 2021.[1]

Following the 2020 United States presidential election and the unsuccessful attempts by Donald Trump and various other Republican officials to overturn it, Republican lawmakers initiated a sweeping effort to make voting laws more restrictive within several states across the country.[2][3] According to the Brennan Center for Justice, as of October 4, 2021, more than 425 bills that would restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states—with 33 of these bills enacted across 19 states so far.[4] The bills are largely centered around limiting mail-in voting, strengthening voter ID laws, shortening early voting, eliminating automatic and same-day voter registration, curbing the use of ballot drop boxes, and allowing for increased purging of voter rolls.[5][6] Republicans in at least eight states have also introduced bills that would give lawmakers greater power over election administration after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn election results in swing states won by Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election.[7][8][9][10] The efforts garnered press attention and public outrage from Democrats, and by 2023 Republicans had adopted a more "under the radar" approach to achieve their goals.[11]

Supporters of the bills argue they would improve election security and reverse temporary changes enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic; they point to false claims of significant election fraud, as well as the substantial public distrust of the integrity of the 2020 election those claims have fostered,[a] as reasons to tighten election laws.[14][15][16] Opponents argue that the efforts amount to voter suppression,[17] are intended to advantage Republicans by reducing the number of people who vote,[b][22] and would disproportionately affect minority voters;[23] they point to reports that the 2020 election was one of the most secure in American history[c] to counter claims that election laws need to be tightened and argue that public distrust in the 2020 election arises from falsehoods pushed by Republicans, especially former president Donald Trump.[31][32][33]

The insistence by Trump and Republicans that the election had been stolen from him by fraud came to be characterized as an implementation of "the big lie" and was also used by Republicans to justify efforts to take control of the administrative management of elections at the state and local level.[34]

  1. ^ Boschma, Janie; Schouten, Fredreka; Krishnakumar, Priya (April 3, 2021). "Lawmakers in 47 states have introduced bills that would make it harder to vote. See them all here". CNN. Archived from the original on April 3, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  2. ^ Izaguirre, Anthony; Coronado, Acacia (January 31, 2021). "GOP lawmakers seek tougher voting rules after record turnout". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  3. ^ McCaskill, Nolan D. (March 15, 2021). "After Trump's loss and false fraud claims, GOP eyes voter restrictions across nation". Politico. Archived from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  4. ^ "Voting Laws Roundup: October 2021". Brennan Center for Justice. October 4, 2021. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  5. ^ "State Voting Bills Tracker 2021". Brennan Center for Justice. February 24, 2021. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-practices was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Corasaniti, Nick (March 24, 2021). "Republicans Aim to Seize More Power Over How Elections Are Run". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  8. ^ Gardner, Amy (March 26, 2021). "After Trump tried to intervene in the 2020 vote, state Republicans are moving to take more control of elections". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  9. ^ Kalmbacher, Colin (May 26, 2021). "Arizona GOP Bill Would Allow GOP-Controlled State Legislature to Strip Key Election Powers from Democratic Secretary of State". Law & Crime. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  10. ^ Gardner, Amy (May 29, 2021). "Texas Republicans finalize bill that would enact stiff new voting restrictions and make it easier to overturn election results". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  11. ^ Corasaniti, Nick; Berzon, Alexandra (May 8, 2023). "Under the Radar, Right-Wing Push to Tighten Voting Laws Persists". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Montanaro, Domenico (December 9, 2020). "Poll: Just A Quarter Of Republicans Accept Election Outcome". NPR. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  13. ^ "December 10, 2020 - 60% View Joe Biden's 2020 Presidential Victory As Legitimate, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 77% Of Republicans Believe There Was Widespread Voter Fraud". Quinnipiac University. December 10, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  14. ^ Inskeep, Steve (February 28, 2021). "Why Republicans Are Moving To Fix Elections That Weren't Broken". NPR.
  15. ^ Montellaro, Zach (January 24, 2021). "State Republicans push new voting restrictions after Trump's loss". Politico.
  16. ^ Corasaniti, Nick (February 21, 2024). "Election Deniers Seek to Rewrite the Law". The New York Times. more than 70 bills in at least 25 states draw some connection to conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, according to a review of data from the Voting Rights Lab, a group that tracks voting legislation
  17. ^ Berman, Ari (February 24, 2021). "Republicans Are Taking Their Voter Suppression Efforts to New Extremes". Mother Jones.
  18. ^ Cohn, Nate (July 15, 2019). "Huge Turnout Is Expected in 2020. So Which Party Would Benefit?". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Mehta, Dhrumil (February 21, 2021). "Increased Voter Turnout Could Benefit Republicans Or Democrats In 2020". FiveThirtyEight.
  20. ^ Scher, Bill (February 8, 2021). "Making It Easier to Vote Is Good for Republicans, Too". Washington Monthly.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference AP-postal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Mystal, Elie (February 22, 2021). "The GOP's 2022 Strategy: Voter Suppression or Bust". The Nation. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  23. ^ Brewster, Adam; Huey-Burns, Caitlin (February 25, 2021). "Proposals to restrict voting gain traction in Republican states". CBS News.
  24. ^ "Joint Statement from Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council & the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees". Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. November 12, 2020.
  25. ^ Balsamo, Michael (December 1, 2020). "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud". Associated Press.
  26. ^ "Wray: FBI has not seen any kind of coordinated national voter fraud in a major election by mail". NBC News. September 24, 2020.
  27. ^ Collman, Ashley (November 10, 2020). "A team of 28 international election observers said it found no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election, contrary to what Trump keeps insisting". Business Insider.
  28. ^ Corasaniti, Nick; Epstein, Reid J.; Rutenberg, Jim (November 10, 2020). "The Times Called Officials in Every State: No Evidence of Voter Fraud". The New York Times.
  29. ^ "Voting Rights Litigation 2020". Brennan Center for Justice. March 2, 2021.
  30. ^ Richer, Alanna Durkin (December 4, 2020). "Trump loves to win but keeps losing election lawsuits". Associated Press.
  31. ^ Wines, Michael (February 27, 2021). "In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules". The New York Times.
  32. ^ Lutz, Eric (February 9, 2021). "Trump's Election Lies Are Fueling a New GOP Voter Suppression Crusade". Vanity Fair.
  33. ^ Derysh, Igor (December 3, 2020). "GOP planning to use Trump's fraud lies to make it harder to vote — could it backfire?". Salon.
  34. ^ Riccardi, Nicholas (December 29, 2021). "'Slow-motion insurrection': How GOP seizes election power". Associated Press. Retrieved January 17, 2023.


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