The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 28, 2022
10 States Made it Harder to Vote in 2022
Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Voting Laws Roundup: October 2022
Voting Rights Lab- The State of State Election Law Since 2020
Center for Public Integrity – A headlong rush by states to attack voting access — or expand it
The Guardian/Reveal – New US state voting laws present most intense voter suppression threat in decades
PBS – How controversial new voting laws are impacting 2022 elections
Groups Taking Action:
League of Women Voters US, When We All Vote, Mi Familia Vota, Protect Democracy
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
This week, we’re recapping 2022 democracy legislation around the U.S. In addition to election police, restricting absentee ballots, and curtailing drop boxes, other anti-voter legislation was enacted as well this year.
The Brennan Center for Justice reports that 10 states made it harder for citizens to vote: Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Seven enacted laws restricting access to voting, including expanding proof of citizenship requirements to register, imposing additional photo ID requirements, limiting Election Day registration, and making it more difficult for individuals without traditional addresses to register to vote.
Arizona legislators attempted to make it more difficult for Native American voters by implementing citizenship documents for use of a federal election-only ballot, but it was thrown out in federal court. Oklahoma now requires address verification with a street number, city and postal code – something many Native and rural citizens don’t have – prior to sending a voter registration card.
Georgia & Oklahoma, passed “election interference” laws which take decision making away from state election officials, the secretary of state and/or the governor for unusual situations, such as allowing mail-in ballots during a pandemic. Instead, these laws embrace the “independent state legislature” theory of ultimate control by the legislature. We’ll discuss the major Democracy court cases for 2022 in our next report.
There’s more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute. I’m Brian Beihl.