Election Changes
Please bookmark our litigation tracker for a complete compilation of the latest developments in every lawsuit regarding changes to election and voting procedures.
• Iowa: Iowa's Republican-run state Senate has passed a bill that would prevent Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate from mailing unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters for the November general election. Pate sent applications to all voters ahead of Iowa's June 2 primaries, which led to the highest-ever turnout in a state primary.
The bill now goes to Iowa's state House, where Republicans have a much smaller advantage. Two Republican senators sided with all Democrats in opposing the legislation, so a similar proportion of defectors could doom the bill in the lower chamber. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has refused to comment on the measure.
• North Carolina: North Carolina's Republican-run state Senate has passed a bill that would ease absentee voting access for the November general election, but a seemingly anodyne provision that could help the GOP re-implement its voter ID laws could still derail the legislation.
Late last month, the Republican-run state House almost unanimously approved the measure, which would require that absentee voters have only one person witness their ballots, rather than two witnesses or a notary. The bill, however, also limits mail voting by making it a felony for election officials to send ballots to voters who haven't requested one, which would prevent officials from conducting elections by mail.
In addition, it includes a provision allowing IDs used to obtain public assistance to qualify under the state's voter ID law, even though that law has been blocked from taking effect by two different courts. But during proceedings in the Senate, one Republican lawmaker explained that public assistance IDs were added because the courts had ruled that their exclusion from the current version of the voter ID law was racially discriminatory—a key reason the law has been enjoined.
By now allowing public assistance IDs, Republicans are hoping that the courts will lift their injunctions, a move that infuriated Democrats once they learned the motive behind their inclusion in the new bill. However, about half the Democrats in the Senate still voted for the bill, and most did in the House when it returned there for a final vote. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has not yet announced his stance on the legislation, though, and could still veto it.