Voting rights

A Sioux Falls election polling place on the morning of Nov. 8, 2022. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

‘Future’ of voting unrealized: Few counties adopt vote centers and e-poll books

BY: - September 15, 2023

Vote centers and electronic poll books were touted as the future of voting in South Dakota more than a decade ago. The state was one of the first to allow counties to establish vote centers where anyone in the county could vote on Election Day, regardless of their residential address or precinct. Vote centers require […]

David Leist of Columbus, left, a field organizer for Ohio Citizen Action, hands registered voter Richard Hall a flyer with information while canvassing against Ohio Issue 1 on July 25, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (Graham Stokes/Ohio Capital Journal)

Ohio voters are deciding if it’s too easy to pass ballot measures. Other states are watching.

BY: and - August 2, 2023

CLEVELAND — Ohioans over the last century have used the state’s ballot initiative process to pass constitutional amendments that raised the minimum wage, integrated the National Guard and removed the phrase “white male” from the constitution’s list of voter eligibility requirements. Now, lawmakers want to make it much tougher for an initiative to be approved. […]

A voter shows identification to an election judge during primary voting on May 3, 2022, in Lordstown, Ohio. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

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 Sept. 23, 2016, in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

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

BY: - July 15, 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 […]

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U.S. House Republicans pass overhaul of federal elections system out of committee

BY: - July 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — On a party-line vote, the U.S. Committee on House Administration on Thursday night passed a bill that would enact strict new voting laws for states, such as requiring copies of IDs for voting by mail, and set penalties for states that allow voting by noncitizens in local elections. The 224-page bill, H.R. 4563, […]

A sign identifies a polling place during a city and school election on June 6, 2023, in Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Civil rights committee finds Native voting rights impeded, finalizes recommendations

BY: - July 10, 2023

Native Americans living on tribal land face many barriers to their voting rights, according to a new report finalized Monday by a civil rights committee. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency established in 1957. The commission’s mission is to investigate and report on issues related to civil rights, and to […]

The Minnehaha County Courthouse in Sioux Falls, pictured on Nov. 1, 2022. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Ballot question group sues Minnehaha County, alleges new policy undermines First Amendment

BY: - May 10, 2023

Dakotans for Health, a health care advocacy network and ballot question committee, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Minnehaha County officials over new restrictions on petition circulators.  The Minnehaha County Courthouse and Administration Building in Sioux Falls are popular locations for collecting signatures to place a measure on the ballot. County officials enacted new regulations on […]

A vote-here sign, pictured on Nov. 8, 2022, at the All Souls Church on Cliff Avenue in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Native American advocates criticize new election laws as civil rights group drafts recommendations

BY: - May 2, 2023

South Dakota’s Legislature passed 19 election-related bills over the winter, but Native American voting rights advocates say none of the bills addressed their concerns about voter suppression. Meanwhile, some of those advocates are serving on a federal civil rights committee that’s developing recommendations to improve Native American participation in elections. Republican leaders described bills they […]

A vote-here sign, pictured on Nov. 8, 2022, at the All Souls Church on Cliff Avenue in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

A top GOP lawyer wants to crack down on the college vote. States already are.

BY: - April 30, 2023

A top Republican election lawyer recently caused a stir when she told GOP donors that the party should work to make it harder for college students to vote in key states. But the comments from Cleta Mitchell, who worked closely with then-President Donald Trump to try to overturn the 2020 election, are perhaps less surprising […]

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U.S. elections official takes part in secretive GOP conference, sparking backlash

BY: - April 14, 2023

A commissioner of a federal elections agency recently spoke at a secretive conference of conservative voting activists and Republican secretaries of state and congressional staff — a step that election experts call highly improper for an official charged with helping states administer fair and unbiased elections.  U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner Donald Palmer, the former chief […]

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Federal agencies lag in registering voters despite Biden executive order, advocates say

BY: - April 11, 2023

Within weeks of taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order — hailed by voter advocates as potentially transformative — that for the first time committed the U.S. government to registering new voters at federal agencies. But just over two years later, most of the 10 agencies examined in a recent report […]

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen walks toward a podium during inauguration ceremonies at the Alabama State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in Montgomery, Alabama. (Stew Milne/Alabama Reflector)

Red-state elections officials balk at voter registration outreach

BY: - April 2, 2023

A day after taking office in January, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen withdrew his state from the Electronic Registration Information Center, an interstate data-sharing compact aimed at helping states keep clean voter rolls.  Asked about the move a few days later by a conservative radio host, Allen, a Republican, at first talked about privacy […]