A Wave of Voter Suppression Bills in State Houses Imperils the Ballot Box

Just two months after Georgia voters handed Democrats a majority in the U.S. Senate, state lawmakers there are proposing laws that would curtail weekend voting hours and impose ID requirements for absentee ballots, among other restrictions that critics say disproportionately affect Black voters. Attempts to restrict voting are not limited to Georgia. The Brennan Center for Justice reports that as of February 2021, lawmakers in 43 different states have introduced over 250 bills to restrict voting. Meanwhile in Congress, the House, with its Democratic majority, recently passed the For the People Act, a historic voter protection bill, that along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Mina Kim talks with Nse Ufot, Dale Ho, and Eliza Sweren-Becker about why legislators are trying to make it harder to vote, and what is being done on the ground to combat these restrictive measures.

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