Is There Any Good News About Voting Rights?

From Political⚡Charge

·        In Maryland, the state House passed a bill that would allow Maryland voters to permanently vote by mail. The bill now moves on to the Senate where a similar bill has already received a hearing.

·        In Utah, the legislature has given its final approval for a law that would allow cities to experiment with ranked-choice voting.

·        In Oregon, a bill advanced by the Black, Indigenous and People of Color Caucus to give voters the option of including information about their race, ethnicity, and preferred language with their voter registration, is advancing through the legislature. The aim of this bill is to collect better information so that community organizations and state and county elections officials could better identify and address voting inequalities.

·        In Idaho, the state House (majority Republicans) has passed a bill that mandates that the county clerk has to notify voters if there is anything wrong with their absentee ballot, and give the voter a chance to fix it.

·        In New Mexico, the House has passed a bill to expand voting protections for Native Americans living on reservations. Every Native nation, tribe, pueblo, etc. would have at least one polling place.

·        New Jersey is on the verge of passing a bill to create an in-person early voting period. A bill has passed the Senate, the corollary in the state House is almost complete, and they will just need to be reconciled before heading to the governor’s desk for signature.