Analysis of Restrictive Voting Legislation Trends in the U.S.

Texas Senate Bill 7 represents one of 361 bills with restrictive voter provisions introduced by state legislators in 47 states as of March 24, 2021 (Brennan Center, 2021). The recent push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions has been called the most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since the end of Reconstruction (Gardner, 2021). The massive increase in this year’s restrictive voting bills is largely due to backlash from the historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election (Brennan Center, 2021). Five of these restrictive voting bills have been signed into law, at least 55 of the bills in 24 states are moving through legislatures, 29 have passed in at least one chamber, and another 26 have had some sort of committee action (Brennan Center, 2021). Much of the proposed restrictive voting legislation currently moving throughout the U.S. disproportionately affects marginalized and minority communities, making the next steps taken by individual state legislators with regards to these restrictive bills absolutely critical to the future of elections in the country.