WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) released an updated, 50-state version of a report about states’ early voting and mail voting laws. Like the original report, this version examined the changes to laws that states have made since the 2020 election, using a 10-point scale to grade whether these methods of voting are accessible to voters. The new version also includes regional comparisons, clarifications on how to measure restrictions around distributing unsolicited mail ballot applications and prohibiting drop boxes, and potential implications for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.  

Click here to view the report. 

“Many states need to do more to protect the freedom to vote and make this basic American right truly accessible to all citizens,” said Valencia Richardson, legal counsel for voting rights at Campaign Legal Center. “We need to understand the sharp shifts in voting access that have occurred across the country over the last few years to address significant and widespread obstacles to voting. Our country’s democracy works best when all voters can participate without barriers.”  

CLC’s main findings include:  

• Racial Disparities: Among the 10 states with the highest Black populations, only Virginia received a strong score for voting access. The other nine states, which are primarily located in the South and are home to tens of millions of Black voters, fell woefully behind the rest of the country in providing early voting and mail voting access. 

• Access for Disabled Voters: These voters are disproportionately impacted by state laws that expand or limit access to mail voting. CLC’s updated report reflects this by awarding a full point to states that maintain permanent mail voting lists for disabled voters, even if nondisabled voters are not eligible to be on these lists. 

• Upheavals and Divides: Several new voting laws were enacted in 2021 and 2022. During the 2022 elections, voters will find themselves navigating these laws and processes for the first time. These changes have created divides between states that have made voting easier, states that have made it harder and states that have done some of both. 

• National Trends and Room for Improvement: While laws vary greatly from state to state, there are both positive and concerning national trends in access to these methods of voting. Currently, thirty-two out of 50 states have substantial room for improvement to ensure access to universal early voting and mail voting. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Legal Defense Fund launched a new toolkit to help voting rights advocates and community leaders expand access to in-person voting in Mississippi. This toolkit provides an overview of the national and state-level legal and policy considerations for establishing and changing Election Day polling place locations, gives examples of the specific and racially disparate problems with in-person voting access across Mississippi, and offers resources for local advocacy and oversight to eliminate barriers to in-person voting.  

Click here to view the advocacy toolkit 

“Our democracy works best when every voter can participate without barriers. Mississippi voters deserve to have an equal opportunity to cast their ballot in person,” said Valencia Richardson, Campaign Legal Center’s legal counsel for voting rights. “We hope this toolkit will help empower Mississippians to protect their freedom to vote by providing democracy advocates with the tools they need to fight for an accessible and inclusive democracy. ”

"It is more important than ever for Mississippians to get involved in the political process. With limited federal oversight, the state maintains some of the harshest and most discriminatory voting restrictions in the country. This toolkit aims to equip Mississippians with the data and tactics needed to spot election access barriers in their communities and advocate for equal and accessible voting opportunities close to home," said Legal Defense Fund Attorney Victoria Wenger.

BACKGROUND 

Many states in the Deep South don’t provide universal access to vote-by-mail, which makes equitable access to in-person voting essential. After the Supreme Court gutted the preclearance formula in Shelby County v. Holder, many Southern localities with high Black populations limited Black voters’ freedom to vote by consolidating or eliminating polling place locations.  

In Mississippi, county governments closed 96 polling places between 2012 and 2018. Since there are virtually no state standards for changing polling places, counties often change them with little notice and at the voter’s expense. Closing a neighborhood polling place can cause longer wait times, fewer resources at the polls and confusion when voters get no notice and show up to the wrong polling place.  

If you have any further questions about the toolkit or in-person voting access in the Deep South, please reach out to CLC’s Senior Communications Manager for Voting Rights and Redistricting, Mannal Haddad, at [email protected].