MADISON, Wisc. — Today, The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Law Forward, Fair Elections Center and Stafford Rosenbaum LLP issued the following statement after the Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected the Wisconsin state legislature’s motion to block legal protections for absentee voters secured in the ongoing lawsuit League of Women Voters of Wisconsin vs. Wisconsin Elections Commission:

Bismarck, ND – Today, in a victory for North Dakota voters, a federal judge dismissed a challenge to North Dakota’s mail-in voting process.

This story was originally published in Votebeat.

Plaintiffs including the NAACP and League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania applauded the ruling.

From January – August 2023, state legislatures nationwide passed various bills into law. While following these developments, the League noticed several important trends around voting rights and election administration.

In 2023, at least 322 bills restricting voting access were introduced in state legislatures nationwide.

Though many of these restrictions may appear simple and easy to comply with, they often have a huge impact on voters with disabilities, people of color, indigenous communities, students, young voters, and older adults. Four common voting restrictions — third-party ballot drop-off restrictions, early voting restrictions, ballot drop-box restrictions, and strict absentee ballot requirements — are particularly devastating.  

This story was originally published by Associated Press.

Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday concluded the 2023 legislative session that was marked by tax cut measures and ended with the shelving of some controversial measures, including a bill that would make it a crime to help a non-family member fill out an absentee ballot.

Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, said she was relieved the bill did not pass. She said it would have authorized the state to “intimidate, arrest and prosecute patriotic, law-abiding citizens for merely helping their friends and neighbors be able to vote absentee.”

MADISON, Wis.  — Wisconsin’s Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday in a case that will likely determine how extensively absentee ballot drop boxes can be used in the upcoming midterm election where the battleground state’s Democratic governor and Republican U.S. senator are on the ballot.

LWV of Pennsylvania and partners filed an amicus brief in Hamm v. Boockvar, a case that challenges the state’s practice of notifying voters whose ballots have signature errors and allowing them to cast a provisional ballot. 

The US Supreme Court denied the Gear v. Wisconsin State Legislature plaintiffs’ application, declining to restore Wisconsin’s back-up option for voters who do not receive their requested absentee ballots in the mail.

Notice and cure processes are the most effective mitigation factor against voter suppression relating to mail-in ballots.