Voting Law Changes in 2012
See our updated roundup of voting law changes in 2013.
Ahead of the 2012 elections, a wave of legislation tightening restrictions on voting has suddenly swept across the country. More than 5 million Americans could be affected by the new rules already put in place this year — a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.
In October 2011, this report was the first full accounting and analysis of this year's voting cutbacks. Click here to read an up-to-date summary of both the bills that have been proposed and the legislation that has been passed since the beginning of 2011.
Read Voting Law Changes Summary (UPDATED 10/5/12)
Download the 2011 Appendix (PDF)
Executive Summary
Over the past century, our nation expanded the franchise and knocked down myriad barriers to full electoral participation. In 2011, however, that momentum abruptly shifted.
State governments across the country enacted an array of new laws making it harder to register or to vote. Some states require voters to show government-issued photo identification, often of a type that as many as one in ten voters do not have. Other states have cut back on early voting, a hugely popular innovation used by millions of Americans. Two states reversed earlier reforms and once again disenfranchised millions who have past criminal convictions but who are now taxpaying members of the community. Still others made it much more difficult for citizens to register to vote, a prerequisite for voting.
These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election. Based on the Brennan Center’s analysis of the 19 laws and two executive actions that passed in 14 states, it is clear that:
- These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.
- The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.
- Of the 12 likely battleground states, as assessed by an August Los Angeles Times analysis of Gallup polling, five have already cut back on voting rights (and may pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently considering new restrictions.
States have changed their laws so rapidly that no single analysis has assessed the overall impact of such moves. Although it is too early to quantify how the changes will impact voter turnout, they will be a hindrance to many voters at a time when the United States continues to turn out less than two thirds of its eligible citizens in presidential elections and less than half in midterm elections.
This study is the first comprehensive roundup of all state legislative action thus far in 2011 on voting rights, focusing on new laws as well as state legislation that has not yet passed or that failed. This snapshot may soon be incomplete: the second halves of some state legislative sessions have begun.
In the News
- New State Rules Raising Hurdles at Voting Booth (New York Times 10/2/11)
- Study Predicts Voting Laws Will Change Political Landscape (Washington Post 10/3/11)
- Brennan Center: Millions Of Voters Impacted By New Photo I.D., Citizenship And Registration Laws (Huffington Post 10/3/11)
- Millions of legal voters face barriers, Brennan Center warns (The National Law Journal 10/3/11)
- Voter ID, Registration Laws May Affect 5 Million Americans in 2012 Election: Report (International Business Times 10/3/11)
- Study: New laws restrict voting for 5 million (USA Today 10/3/11)
- GOP War on Voting: New Laws Could Block Five Million From Polls (Rollingstone.com 10/3/11)
- Florida and other GOP-dominated states’ new elections rules could shut out 5 million voters next year (Palm Beach Post 10/3/11)
- The GOP's new voting laws: Disenfranchising 5 million Americans? (The Week 10/4/11)
- The Myth of Voter Fraud (New York Times 10/9/11)
- Why Isn’t Attorney General Holder Fighting GOP Efforts to Turn Back the Clock on Voting Rights (Foxnews.com 10/19/11)
- Voter ID, other initiatives follow GOP’s resurgence (Washington Times 10/23/11)
- Obama's Toughest Opponent: State Election Laws? (National Journal 10/20/11)
- New State Laws Could Impact 2012 Vote (WSJ 10/3/11)
- Study predicts voting laws will change political landscape (Washington Post 10/3/11)
- 2012 election: Disenfranchised voters, hacked machines? (CBSnews.com 10/3/11)
- Draconian laws could disenfranchise 5 million voters (The Bellingham Herald 10/3/11)
- Maine vote coalition: Study supports same-day law (Houston Chronicle 10/3/11)
- Study: Voter ID Laws Could Impact Millions (Commentary 10/3/11)
- Restrictions Could Keep Five Million Traditionally Democratic Voters From The Polls In 2012 (TPM 10/3/11)
- Report: New TX Voter Laws Reflect Major Nationwide Shift (Public News Service 10/11/11)
- Study Quantifies Impact of New Voting Laws (The Business Journal 10/3/11)
- The Pulse: The real mischief at the polls (The Philadelphia Inquirer 10/9/11)
- Democrats Launch Campaign To Counter Alleged GOP Voter Suppression (Huffington Post 10/5/11)
- Same-day Voter Registration at issue in Maine (Msnbc.com 10/9/11)
- GOP Voting Laws Could Swing the 2012 Election (The Nation 10/3/11)
- The Republican "Voter Fraud" Fraud (The Guardian 10/31/11)
- Sen. Bill Nelson Wants Investigation of Election Law Changes (Orlando Sentinel 11/1/11)
- 5 Reasons Why You Should Care About New Restrictive Voting Laws (Colorlines 11/8/11)