State-Level Voting Restrictions Mirror Trump Proposals, Fueling Voter Rights Concerns
Republican states are enacting over three dozen new voting laws, including changes to voter ID and citizenship proof, often mirroring Trump's proposals. These restrictions have sparked legal challenges and raised concerns about voter roll purges and voter disenfranchisement.
The Surge in State Voting Restrictions
Many Republican-controlled states have implemented new voting rules this year, some of which directly mirror proposals pushed by President Donald Trump. These actions represent a significant shift in election regulations occurring at the state level, contrasting with federal efforts that have stalled.
Federal Attempts vs. State Actions
President Trump has previously pushed Congress to enact a proof-of-citizenship law, signed an executive order seeking a national voter ID requirement, and attempted to limit mail voting through changes to the U.S. Postal Service. None of these federal moves succeeded in affecting this year’s midterm elections. However, the situation is different in the states.
More than three dozen voting laws have passed in Republican-controlled states, taking effect for the first time this year. Many of these laws contain elements of Trump’s stalled proposals. These changes include modifications to acceptable IDs for first-time registration and requirements to show proof of citizenship, an issue the Republican president has attempted but failed to pass through Congress.
“Trump’s attacks on our elections are deeply damaging, but they are not happening in isolation,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project. “Across the country, states are also advancing restrictions that make it harder for eligible voters to cast a ballot.”
Republican Justifications and Voter Concerns
Republican lawmakers who support these tighter voting laws, particularly concerning voter ID, describe them as common sense changes designed to help build trust in elections.
These restrictive measures are often linked to the Republican push for tighter rules, which stems from the president’s false claims of widespread fraud in his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. These false claims resonated with Republican voters, a majority of whom believe Biden was not legitimately elected despite evidence to the contrary. Trump lost numerous court challenges, his own attorney general found no evidence of widespread fraud, and reviews, audits, and recounts in battleground states all affirmed Biden’s victory.
Specific State Changes and Voter Impacts
Changes confronting voters as early voting begins include:
In New Hampshire, students can no longer use student IDs.
Utah voters returning mail ballots must include additional information on the envelope.
Some voters in Mississippi might need birth certificates or passports to verify their identities.
Challenges to Voter ID Requirements
The changes to voter ID requirements have faced challenges from civil rights groups and legal advocates.
In New Hampshire, state Representative Donald McFarlane sponsored a bill to eliminate student IDs as acceptable for voting. He argued that colleges do not have the same controls when issuing those cards as government agencies. He stated that the change removes a special exception and applies the same government-issued ID standard to all voters. He noted that students can still obtain state IDs free of charge.
In South Dakota, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt a new law. This law requires voters registering for the first time to present the most common forms of ID—driver’s licenses, Tribal IDs, and non-driver state IDs—in person at places that accept registration.
Kathryn Johnson, president of the League of Women Voters of South Dakota, noted that while proof of citizenship itself is not terrible, her concern lies with the requirement to present IDs in person. She pointed out that in their remote state, requiring voters to drive, coordinate, and take off work for verification creates logistical hurdles.
The Ongoing Concern: Voter Roll Purges
In states like Ohio, the focus extends beyond ID requirements to the ongoing purge of voter rolls. The databases used to check citizenship against voter registration lists can be outdated, which raises serious concerns about disenfranchisement.
Sen. Theresa Gavarone, a Republican state Senator and one of the primary sponsors of the Ohio bill, challenged the ACLU’s legal action, asserting that the problem addressed by the law is real. She stated that in the past two years, hundreds of noncitizens have been removed from Ohio’s voter rolls, arguing that every single vote cast by a noncitizen disenfranchises a lawful Ohio voter.
The ACLU of Ohio, through legal action, has sued to overturn this law, highlighting the vulnerability of perfectly eligible voters to being disenfranchised due to outdated databases.
Mixed Public Views on New Requirements
Voters hold mixed views regarding these changes. In Wayne County, Ohio, retired steel worker Dan Walter, an independent voter, expressed opposition to requiring documentary proof of citizenship.
“It’s to keep people from voting, it sounds to me like,” Walter said.
His wife, Jody, a retired aerospace executive and a Democrat, shared the same sentiment about Ohio’s new requirement for registering to vote. She stated, “A driver’s license doesn’t prove citizenship, and that’s all they ask for now. It’s going to be an obstacle for so many people.”
Conversely, some voters view the requirement as a necessary precaution.
Genia Fortune, a nurse and Millersburg resident, described herself as an independent. She stated that she voted for President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and later for Trump. She believes that requiring documentary proof of citizenship is a necessary precaution, citing Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Broader Legislative Landscape
Voting and election laws have become a regular target for legislatures. The Trump administration has employed multiple strategies to influence midterm elections, most of which have been stymied by Congress or the courts.
Chris Diaz, director of legislative tracking at the Voting Rights Lab, has tracked several versions of the Republican president’s proposals passed by allies in various states. A recently released report by this group highlighted key areas drawing Republican lawmakers’ attention: mail balloting, voter ID, and the hunt for noncitizens on voter rolls.
The focus on noncitizen voting has been a priority for the Trump administration, despite it being a rare problem. The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced charges in roughly 90 cases for various types of election misconduct, including 50 against people alleged to have voted as noncitizens. For the 2024 presidential election, the U.S. had 227 million registered voters.
The Brennan Center for Justice identified nearly 40 laws in 21 states taking effect this election season that will make it harder for eligible voters to register, stay on the rolls, or cast ballots. The report from the center, part of the New York University School of Law, concluded that many of these new laws target subsets of voters.
Sean Morales-Doyle, senior director of the center’s Voting Rights and Elections Program, summarized the situation: “What I want voters to take away from this is that elections are still run by the states and there are still people in many states who are trying to make it harder for you to vote. But that’s all the more reason to go make a plan to vote and participate.”