Fighting Voter Suppression

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.

This story was originally published by CBS News Detroit.

Longtime League leader and voting rights advocate Mildred Madison passed away at the age of 97.

LWV of Tennessee and partners filed a federal lawsuit challenging portions of Tennessee’s congressional and state senate redistricting plans that went into effect in early 2022 as intentionally discriminatory against Black voters and other voters of color.

This article was originally published in Ohio Capital-Journal.

What Ohio voters decide on Aug. 8 is likely to shape whether similar efforts to restrict ballot measures are brought in other states.

The League hopes to see members of the 118th Congress work together to ensure that voting rights are championed as a bipartisan effort in this country.   

Case brought by LWV Cupertino-Sunnyvale challenging a new lobbying disclosure ordinance enacted by the City of Cupertino, which could require the League and others petitioning the city council to register as lobbyists.

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.  

LWV Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court asserting Florida’s statewide voter registration form violated the National Voter Registration Act.

This story originally aired on FOX9.

It’s been more than a month since over 55,000 Minnesotans re-gained the right to vote, and efforts to remind them of that continue.

"A lot of these events are really to continue to keep the message out there," said Michelle Witte of the League of Women Voters Minnesota. "That this is now available to you to have the freedom to vote."

On Friday, the League set up a table in the front hallway of the federal courthouse in Minneapolis to help those who are out of prison for a felony, but still on supervision, register to vote.

This story was originally published by Associated Press.

For a century, the League of Women Voters in Florida formed bonds with marginalized residents by helping them register to vote — and, in recent years, those efforts have extended to the growing Asian American and Asian immigrant communities.

But a state law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May would have forced the group to alter its strategy.