NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Last month, Tennessee lawmakers approved new bipartisan legislation to make it easier for people with previous felony convictions to vote in the state. Senate Bill 0336 and House Bill 067 eliminated the court costs requirement and opened the door for people who are compliant with child support payment orders for a year to restore their voting rights.  

Campaign Legal Center’s Restore Your Vote program coordinated alongside advocates at the Tennessee-based Free Hearts to support the legislation and get it across the finish line. Free Hearts is an organization led by formerly incarcerated women who have restored their voting rights and are now working to expand the freedom to vote for thousands more in the state of Tennessee.  

“The passage of this legislation reflects a commitment to a more inclusive democracy in Tennessee,” said Keeda Haynes, senior legal counsel at Free Hearts. “For generations, our state has restricted access to the ballot for directly impacted individuals in ways that narrowed participation and left too many voices unheard. By removing financial barriers that have long stood in the way of voting rights restoration, this law reinforces a core democratic principle, that our democracy works best when everyone is included.”

“This is what justice looks like: removing barriers that never should have existed in the first place and opening the door for hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans to reclaim their voice,” said Dawn Harrington, executive director of Free Hearts. “It’s a powerful example of what directly impacted-led organizing, coalition building and persistence over time can achieve, even in places where the path to change isn’t easy.”

“This process is still far from perfect, but removing financial barriers is a significant step forward,” said Gicola Lane, the senior community partnerships manager of Restore Your Vote at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “I’ve seen how discouraging it can be for people to do everything right and still be denied their rights simply because they can’t afford legal debt. This change creates a more realistic path for people to have their voices heard."

“This law is a significant milestone, marking the first improvement to Tennessee’s voting rights restoration law in two decades,” said Blair Bowie, director of Restore Your Vote at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “But Tennessee still has the highest rate of disenfranchisement in the country and lags significantly behind much of the country when it comes to voting rights restoration, as most states will restore a person’s voting rights once they’ve completed their prison sentence. Clearly, more must be done.”

Follow the latest updates via Campaign Legal Center’s case page.

###

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events. 

WASHINGTON — Today, Campaign Legal Center and Democracy Defenders Fund sued the Executive Office of the President — alongside members of the president’s Cabinet and select federal agencies — on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Secure Families Initiative and Arizona Students’ Association. The complaint asserts that the most recent executive order on elections unconstitutionally violates the separation of powers and exceeds the president’s legal authority by attempting to limit access to mail-in voting and threatening the freedom to vote for millions of Americans.

Attempting to limit access to mail-in voting through an executive order is an unconstitutional and illegal abuse of executive power. The Constitution is clear: Only the states and Congress have the power to regulate elections — not the president. And only Congress has the power to regulate the U.S. mail.

Voting by mail is a safe, secure and accessible method used by millions of Americans — including the president himself — to cast their ballots. It's also an institution that has been used reliably by military voters for over 150 years. Attempting to create a national voter registry with faulty data not only threatens to disenfranchise millions of voters, but it lies outside the authority of the federal government.

This is especially so for the portion of the order that purports to direct the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to play a role; USPS is an independent agency regulated by Congress, and it cannot be controlled or compelled to act by the president.

“The president does not have the authority to do this,” said Juan Proaño, chief executive officer of LULAC. “He is using the specter of noncitizen voting to make it harder for eligible Americans to vote. We know what this executive order is meant to do, and we will not stand by while he tries to unilaterally rewrite our election laws.”

"This is an unprecedented attempt by the president to not only unconstitutionally assert total authority over our elections, but also to dictate who can make their voices heard through an unlawful decree limiting mail-in voting,” said Danielle Lang, the vice president of voting rights and the rule of law at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “Attempts to command the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work with independent agencies on efforts to disenfranchise eligible voters — including compiling a purported list of all voters using stale and outdated data and attempting to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from delivering ballots to eligible Americans — are simply unconstitutional and violate long-standing protections for Americans.”

"Military families make daily sacrifices in service to our country — including our willingness to frequently uproot our families every time the military stations us far away from home," said Sarah Streyder, executive director of Secure Families Initiative. "This Executive Order ignores that reality of military life, imposing unnecessary and redundant barriers to our ability to vote in the very democracy we serve to protect. This Executive Order will indisputably harm military voters, at least half of whom are Americans of color."

“The last time Trump tried to take over our elections with an executive order, we stopped him, and we are going to court to do the same thing here. This order is an attempt to drag election administration out of the hands of the states where it belongs, and into the White House where it has no place,” said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “It tells federal agencies to assemble voter lists, block the delivery of mail ballots, and put state officials under threat of investigation or prosecution. We hope the court will act quickly to block all this before it disrupts elections and hurts voters.”

“Recent executive actions impacting voter registration and mail-in voting raise serious concerns for students across Arizona. Policies that introduce new layers of verification or rely on federal databases risk creating unnecessary barriers, especially for students whose addresses or records may not perfectly align across systems. As an organization, we know that for many students, we are their first introduction to civic participation. That responsibility matters. It means ensuring students feel confident, informed, and empowered—not confused, discouraged, or excluded,” said Jessica Mendoza, executive director of Arizona Students’ Association. “We believe voting is one of the most important and effective ways to exercise our rights in this country. Any effort that makes that process more complicated or inaccessible moves us in the wrong direction. Instead of adding barriers, we should be working to uplift them—meeting students where they are, removing obstacles, and expanding access to the democratic process. Students deserve a system that recognizes their realities and supports their participation, not one that makes it harder to have their voices heard.”

It is clear that the president is using this unlawful executive order to unconstitutionally shape the electorate to his will, limit access to mail voting for millions of Americans, and attempt to sow doubt in how our elections are run.

Through a previous executive order, President Trump attempted to abuse his power by trying to establish unconstitutional proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration. This same coalition of nonprofits and voting rights groups successfully blocked two key provisions of that executive order. The demands in President Trump’s new executive order also are illegal. Read more about our lawsuit here and follow updates to our case here.

###

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events.

WASHINGTON — On March 31, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an anti-voter executive order that threatens Americans’ freedom to vote. Danielle Lang, vice president of voting rights and the rule of law at Campaign Legal Center (CLC), issued the following joint statement alongside Norm Eisen of the Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) and Juan Proaño of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC):

"Our coalition defeated President Trump's last illegal anti-voter executive order in court, and we will defeat this unlawful and incoherent one, too. We are drafting the lawsuit right now. The Constitution gives authority over elections to the states and Congress. The president does not have the power he is claiming. We will see him in court."

###

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — On March 24, 2026, nonpartisan civic engagement groups in Missouri secured a major victory after the state Supreme Court upheld a ruling blocking four unlawful anti-voter provisions from going into effect that would have chilled the critical work of civic engagement groups. Following this ruling, nonpartisan civic engagement groups in the state can continue exercising their right to engage in political speech by helping Missourians register to vote — without the threat of harsh criminal sanctions.

Missouri’s House Bill 1878 (HB 1878), passed in 2022, included many strict and confusing prohibitions that would have subjected volunteers to drastic penalties, including fines, imprisonment, and even a permanent loss of their own right to vote. Read more about the burdensome penalties of the law here.

The League of Women Voters of Missouri (LWVMO) and the Missouri State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Missouri NAACP) — represented by Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition (MOVPC) — filed a lawsuit to challenge these provisions.

The Cole County Circuit Court responded to this lawsuit by granting a preliminary injunction that temporarily halted enforcement of these provisions. The circuit court then ruled in 2024 that these provisions violated the right of civic engagement groups to engage in pro-voter messaging. The state appealed this decision, and the Missouri Supreme Court then upheld the 2024 ruling. These four provisions will now remain permanently blocked.

“This ruling is ultimately a win for Missouri voters,” said Dr. Kay Park, President of the League of Women Voters of Missouri. “We are proud of our vital role in educating Missouri voters and promoting participation in our democracy. Voter engagement is not a crime, and the League is thrilled the state supreme court has finally affirmed our right to do our important work without fear. The League is proud to continue to fight to preserve and protect the right to vote for every Missouri citizen.”

"We celebrate this win from Missouri’s highest court firmly establishing the rights of all Missourians to engage in registration and civic engagement activities in their communities,” said Nimrod Chapel Jr., President of the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP. “History shows us why community voter registration and civic engagement work is so important, and especially critical to closing the voter registration and voter participation gap in black and brown communities. During Jim Crow, they unleashed fire hoses on those doing voter registration in black communities. This law would have limited who could register people to vote and imposed criminal penalties, including even loss of voting rights. The court’s ruling is an important win to ensuring the NAACP can fulfill its mission to close the voter registration gap and ensure the voices of all Missourians can be heard."

“This week’s ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court affirms that nonpartisan civic engagement groups serve a vital role in upholding the freedom to vote, and attempts to limit their right to exercise political speech violate the state’s constitution,” said Danielle Lang, the vice president for voting rights and rule of law at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “The anti-voter provisions we challenged directly opposed the core principle that our democracy is strongest when voters can participate in the electoral process. Campaign Legal Center will continue to work alongside civic engagement groups in Missouri and nationwide to ensure that they can fulfill their mission of registering people to vote without fear of criminal prosecution simply for engaging in protected political speech.”

"This is a win for speech, democracy, and all current and future voters in Missouri," said Gillian Wilcox, Director of Litigation at the ACLU of Missouri. "The vital work of organizations like the League and the NAACP is necessary to help Missourians navigate a system that is deeply rooted with systemic barriers that unnecessarily impede Missourians from exercising their fundamental right to vote."

“This is an important victory for our democracy,” said Denise Lieberman, Director and General Counsel of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition. “Community-driven voter registration and engagement activities are critical to helping voters have a voice, and the Missouri Supreme Court got it right that limiting who can participate and what they can say violates their right to political expression. Missourians should feel empowered to engage in a wide array of voter registration and civic engagement activities without fear of prosecution.”

Follow the latest updates via Campaign Legal Center’s case page.

###

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

Learn more about CLC. Don't miss out on our latest resources: Subscribe to President Trevor Potter's newsletter on LinkedIn or email, tune in to the latest season of our award-winning podcast, Democracy Decoded, and join our livestreamed events.