The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for January 3, 2023
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Associated Press – Effect of Georgia’s voting law unclear, despite high turnout
Voting Rights Lab – Availability of In-Person Early Voting
Deseret News – Skip the election day lines: Here are the states that offer early voting
BallotPedia – Arguments for and against early voting
Groups Taking Action:
Brennan Center for Justice, League of Women Voters, ACLU
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.
We have predictions this week on what 2023 legislation we’ll see in state legislatures. After hearing our predictions, you may be making another new year’s resolution to join your local voting rights group.
Since the 2020 elections, legislatures which bought into former President Trump’s discredited vote by mail fraud claims have moved to make mail-in voting more difficult. To avoid the appearance of voter suppression, conservative legislatures compromised and 16 states have added early IN-PERSON voting since 2020.
But in 2022, Georgia, Texas and Iowa voters loved early voting a little too much, by the measure of some Republican legislators. In Texas and Iowa, legislators moved to limit early voting, shortening the hours in Texas, and the number of days in Iowa. In Georgia, 2021’s SB 202 shortened early voting for runoff elections, and while court action ultimately added more days for the Warnock-Walker Senate race, there were fewer early voting locations for the runoff than in the general election, causing long lines and wait times.
Voters were tenacious in the midterms. They overcame mail-in voting restrictions by mobilizing to vote early in-person, and setting turnout records. Our prediction for 2023: More anti-voter legislatures will push laws to shorten early voting, because its convenience and flexibility is too helpful for groups of voters they don’t like.
We have articles and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.