Voting Access

Special session remains in place pending further 5th Circuit ruling

5th Circuit cancels redrawing of Louisiana’s congressional district map

BY: - September 28, 2023

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has canceled the redrawing of Louisiana’s congressional districts that was scheduled to begin Oct. 3, adding another delay to the efforts of Black voters to gain equitable representation. NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney Jared Evans confirmed the news Thursday afternoon, saying the Republican defendants are claiming a lower […]

Four more Louisiana Constitution amendments are on the Oct. 14 ballot

BY: - September 26, 2023

Louisiana voters will be asked, yet again, to decide on a number of amendments to the state constitution in the upcoming fall elections.  The constitution, ratified in 1974 as a framing document to define the basic principles and structure of state government, has consistently been changed through amendments. Items normally placed in state statute, where […]

A streetcar rolls past a voting precinct in New Orleans.

Louisiana Secretary of State candidates debate 2020 election denial, voting machines

BY: - September 22, 2023

A virtual candidate forum held Thursday for those vying to become Louisiana’s next top election official was mostly tranquil apart from a few fictional claims on the part of one of the candidates. The forum, held via video conference by the Public Affairs Research Council, included three Republicans — Mike Francis,  Nancy Landry and Brandon […]

Groups canvass Louisiana on National Voter Registration Day

BY: - September 19, 2023

Volunteers and advocacy groups spent much of Tuesday canvassing neighborhoods and knocking on doors for National Voter Registration Day. Held annually every September, National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic event during which volunteers and organizations take to the streets in a coordinated effort to assist people in registering to vote. It comes just […]

Voters in Minneapolis, Minn., line up to vote during the 2018 midterm elections.

In reversal, some states make it harder for people with felony convictions to vote

BY: - August 7, 2023

The year started out strong for advocates trying to make it easier for people with felony convictions to regain their voting rights. In March, the Democratic-led legislatures in Minnesota and New Mexico enacted measures that cleared a pathway for residents serving prison time for felonies to regain their right to vote upon being released. It […]

Alabama statehouse

Alabama congressional map: Federal court won’t let state relitigate Voting Rights Act

BY: - August 2, 2023

The court overseeing a challenge to Alabama’s congressional map said Tuesday it would not allow the state to relitigate whether the state’s prior map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. At a Monday morning status conference, attorneys with the Alabama attorney general’s office suggested they wanted to challenge earlier parts of the case, […]

A voter shows identification to an election judge during primary voting on May 3, 2022 in Lordstown, Ohio.

National bill on voting standards pushed anew by Democrats in Congress

BY: - July 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Tuesday said they plan to again introduce a bill to set national voting standards in response to state legislatures passing strict voting laws. The bill, known in a previous Congress as the Freedom to Vote Act, would establish national standards for early voting, mail-in ballots and protection of poll workers […]

Signage at an early voting center on September 23, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Changes in state election laws have little impact on results, new study finds

BY: - July 14, 2023

In recent years, U.S. politics has been consumed by partisan fights over states’ election policies. But a new study by two political scientists is causing a stir by finding that state legislators’ changes to election laws — both those that tighten election rules in the name of integrity, and those that loosen rules to expand […]

Gov. Edwards calls lawmakers into special session after judge rejects redistricting map

U.S. Supreme Court clears way for second Black congressional district in Louisiana

BY: - June 26, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court lifted its stay in a Louisiana redistricting case, clearing the way to add a second Black district to the state’s congressional map. The case of Ardoin v. Robinson stems from a congressional map with just one majority-Black district that Louisiana’s Republican lawmakers adopted last year in defiance of a federal judge’s order. […]

Kyle Ardoin sitting in a state House committee meeting

Secretary of State Ardoin trades barbs with vote-buying operative Louis Ruffino

BY: - June 23, 2023

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said he is disappointed to learn that Tangipahoa Parish political operative Louis Ruffino will serve no jail time for his role in a decades-old federal vote-buying scheme. In response, Ruffino said Ardoin should worry less about him and more about other election-related investigations. Ruffino, former mayor of the Tangipahoa […]

Poll workers check in a voter at a polling station at David R. Cawley Middle School on February 11, 2020 in Hookset, New Hampshire.

States with low election turnout did little in 2023 to expand voting access

BY: - June 17, 2023

This year’s state legislative sessions are almost all wrapped up. And on voting and elections policy, the headlines have largely focused on a new wave of restrictive voting laws passed in big Republican-led states such as Florida, Texas, and Ohio, as well as expansive laws approved in Democratic-led states including Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. […]

Kyle Ardoin sitting in a state House committee meeting

Louisiana Secretary of State asks governor to not veto voter canvass bill

BY: - June 15, 2023

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin sent an open letter Thursday to Gov. John Bel Edwards asking him to not veto a bill that would allow his agency to perform a supplemental voter canvass every year.  The legislation is House Bill 646, sponsored by Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur. The majority-Republican legislature has passed similar versions […]