Amid one of the most historic elections in U.S. History, voters and policy makers are now more than ever pushing change in the way we vote. These 5 states have either altered or are challenging voting rules in their region.
In January, a “use it or lose it” bill was passed through Senate but not the full House that’s goal is to purge registered voters who have not voted for two consecutive Presidential Elections. The bill was not passed and has not been revisited since its introduction.
Huge strides have been made in Florida as voters and the state push for felons to be eligible to vote (under conditions). Felons must be done with prison, parole, and probation in order to be eligible to vote. Florida’s Republican majority legislature stepped into the transformation by adding that the felon’s outstanding court fees must be paid off in order to register.
New York State lawmakers passed a bill that allows New York voters 10 days of early access to the ballot box ahead of any special, primary, or general elections. New York lawmakers also passed a bill that allows for 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote.
The California Voter’s Choice Act is an act that was passed in 2016 but is rapidly being adapted and used by several counties in 2020. This bill was designed to mail every voter a ballot, expand early in-person voting, and allow any voter to cast a vote in any voting center in their county.
Fourteen new counties have adopted the system for the 2020 Election.
Due to about 7,000 absentee ballots being rejected statewide in Georgia in 2018, a federal judge ordered election officials to stop rejecting absentee ballots due to mismatched signatures without giving voters the chance to change their mistakes.
Gwinnett County, which is more than half African American, Latino/a, and Asian, rejected over 400 ballots due to fixable mistakes on the absentee ballot. The federal judge’s decision to prohibit rejecting absentee ballots will change Georgia’s voting statistics significantly.
Now more than ever, it is essential to know your states voting procedures. For more on the 2020 Election, visit CIMA Law Group and CIMA Blog.
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