Abstract
The 2020 election turnout in America was record breaking, with more than 157 million Americans casting their votes in the presidential election. The unprecedented number of voters at the polls and the election outcomes led state legislators in 2021 to immediately begin to draft bills “aimed at reforming election procedure” (Mena, 2021) and to ensure the integrity of the voting process. Many of these bills’ limits voter access, and therefore, negatively affects racial minorities, and disabled Americans’ right to vote. Hundreds of bills with provisions that restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states since 2021 (BrennanCenter.org). Using descriptive statistics and Independent Samples t-Test, this research analyzes the 424 restrictive voter laws introduced into state legislatures across the country and their sponsors. The findings indicate that Republican, white legislators, primarily from the South, who held leadership positions, were more likely than their legislative colleagues to sponsor restrictive voting measures. Secondly, representatives from battleground states were more likely than representatives from non-battlegrounds states to sponsor restrictive measures. This research found no significant gender differences with regard to sponsorship of restrictive voting measures.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Community Diversity and Governance
KEYWORDS
Restrictive Voting Bills, Voter Suppression, Disenfranchised Minority Voters
