Voting Rights Voting Elections Brennan Center For Justice

Through research, lawsuits, and advocacy, the Brennan Center is fighting voter suppression on every front. False claims of fraud are driving attempts to interfere with the independent, nonpartisan counting of votes and certification of election results. Americans are increasingly living in a nation divided, where how easy it is to vote depends on where they happen to live. We promote solutions that would modernize and standardize voting access policies across the nation and make it easier for eligible Americans to register and to vote. Our aging voting infrastructure leaves the U.S. election system vulnerable to attack and causes long lines that keep some people from casting a ballot.

Meanwhile, election officials are coming under unprecedented attack. The Brennan Center has proposed legislation to fund much-needed updates to our election infrastructure. We support constitutional reforms that would eliminate the Electoral College in favor of direct election of the president by a national popular vote. The first hundred days of Donald Trump’s presidency have been marked by power grabs, aggressive if chaotic attempts to upend the Constitution’s checks and balances. Now another strategy has begun to more clearly come into view: an unprecedented drive to undermine elections, just in time for the 2026 midterms. Also emerging: a fierce response, a defense of voting rights that won an important early victory.

How this fight unfolds will shape whether we have free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond. On March 25, Trump signed an executive order purporting to take personal control over federal elections. Henceforth, he declared, American citizens would have to produce a passport or other citizenship document to register using the federal voter registration form. But roughly half of Americans don’t have passports. The “order” was stuffed with other misguided notions. For example, it instructed an independent agency to strip federal certification from previously certified voting machines, and it even ordered states to give Elon Musk’s DOGE team access to the voter rolls to search...

The Brennan Center went to federal court. Representing the League of Women Voters, together with allies, our attorneys argued that this was illegal and unconstitutional. Last week, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly agreed. In a powerful 120-page opinion, she wrote, “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections.” She issued a preliminary injunction blocking the key... (Other elements are still being litigated.) The judge focused on the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives states the duty to set rules for the “times, places, and manner” of elections — and gives Congress the power to make national voting...

That provision is the basis for the Freedom to Vote Act, the sweeping pro-democracy legislation that came within two votes of passing three years ago. It does not give a president any personal authority over elections, and certainly not the writ to act like a king. State felony disenfranchisement laws keep millions of Americans from voting. These laws aren’t just antidemocratic — they send the message that the voices of individuals returning to their communities don’t count. And these voting bans disproportionately affect Black Americans. But we can change this.

Since 2018, a growing number of states have changed their laws — either through constitutional amendment, legislation, or executive action — to allow more Americans with past convictions to vote. Other states are considering similar reforms, and we’re urging Congress to pass legislation that would re-enfranchise in federal elections the millions of Americans who are no longer incarcerated but still can’t vote. This progress has not been without setbacks, emphasizing the need for Congress to step in and impose a national standard. In 2018, Florida voters passed a ballot measure that was expected to re-enfranchise about 1.4 million Floridians — an outcome the Brennan Center has worked on for nearly two decades. But months later, the state enacted a law that severely curtailed the measure’s impact by requiring those whose rights had just been restored to pay off certain court debts before they can vote. And in 2023, Virginia’s governor reversed an executive action that had provided a pathway for citizens to regain their voting rights, making Virginia the only state that permanently bars all citizens with past convictions...

Despite this backsliding, restoring voting rights continues to be an issue that unites voters from all walks of life, and this bipartisan support indicates that more progress is ahead. There is significant momentum nationwide to restore voting rights to people who are living in our communities but have convictions in their past. The Brennan Center is at the forefront of this movement, providing research into state laws and proposing model legislation. Voting is the foundation of our democracy. The Brennan Center is at the center of the fight to preserve and expand the right to vote for every eligible citizen. Through practical policy proposals, litigation, advocacy, and communications, the Brennan Center works to ensure that voting is free, fair, and accessible for all Americans.

The Center’s signature proposal, automatic voter registration, would save money, increase accuracy and participation — and add an additional 50 million voters to the rolls permanently. The House of Representatives chamber has been the site of some of history’s greatest strides for the freedom to vote. It’s where Lyndon Johnson called for the Voting Rights Act. Where lawmakers voted to end the poll tax and advance constitutional amendments to grant the vote to women and 18-year-olds. As I write, the House is currently barreling toward something very different: a bill to restrict the vote — to prevent millions of American citizens from casting ballots. If it becomes law it would be the most significant voter suppression bill ever passed by Congress.

The bill is called the SAVE Act. It would essentially require Americans to produce a passport or a birth certificate to register and vote. Brennan Center research shows that at least 21 million voters lack ready access to those papers. About half of all Americans don’t have a passport, for example. (Wait, how do they summer in France?) As for a birth certificate, many people may have one . .

. but they don’t know where it is. (In a shoebox? At my mom’s house?) It’s worse than that. Tens of millions of married women have changed their last names, so the names on their birth certificates don’t match their current legal names.

One estimate is that 8 in 10 women in opposite-sex marriages took their husband’s last name. The Brennan Center for Justice is working hard to protect all Americans’ right to vote. “States have already enacted more than 20 laws this year that will make it harder for Americans to vote — and many legislatures are still in session.” Read their most recent update on where things stand in the states. The voting process should be simple, convenient, and fair for all Americans. But millions never make it on the rolls or to the polls, while hurdles like long lines, limited voting times, and restrictions on mail voting block many more.

Communities of color, low-income communities, students, and seniors are at risk. That’s why we support a range of proposals to expand access to registration and voting. The Brennan Center is part of the fight to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the Voting Rights Act and protect vulnerable communities from racial discrimination in voting. We also support passing the Freedom to Vote Act, which would implement a number of reforms to modernize and standardize our elections. These include early voting, including on the weekend and evenings, so that those who can’t make it to the polls on Election Day aren’t shut out.

It also requires the option for same-day registration, which lets people register and vote in one trip, so arbitrary registration deadlines don’t trip people up. It also includes online registration, so that getting on the rolls and updating registration information is as convenient as possible, as well as protections to ensure that eligible voters are not purged from the... We also recommend that states take steps to ensure that all polling places have sufficient voting machines and poll workers to reduce wait times. This means allocating appropriate funding for all communities. The Brennan Center supports a bold solution to ensure the safety of voters and election officials during voting. Our model bill, known as the Peace Act in the states and the Freedom from Intimidation in Elections Act in Congress, strengthens prohibitions against the intimidation of voters, election officials, and election workers.

It would also establish a presumption that the presence of guns in and around our elections is intimidating. With the threat of political violence growing, states need strong laws to limit risk. We led the way in developing and promoting automatic voter registration, in which eligible voters are automatically registered when they have contact with government agencies, unless they opt out. It’s a reform that has dramatically reshaped registration by making it much easier to get on the rolls. Since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, dozens of states have enacted laws making it harder to vote, especially for people of color. The result: a growing racial turnout gap.

But Congress has the power to guarantee all Americans’ access to the ballot. The Brennan Center for Justice is a liberal[2][3][4] or progressive[5] nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising the minimum wage, opposing voter ID laws, and calling for public funding of elections.[6][7] Its operations are centered at New York University School of... The organization opposed the U.S.

Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofit organizations.[8][9] The stated mission of the Brennan Center is to "work to hold our political institutions and laws accountable to the twin American ideals of democracy and equal justice for all".[10] Its president is Michael... The Brennan Center for Justice was founded in 1995 by the family and former law clerks of Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., whom The Washington Post called "the progressive voice of the modern court".[11] Justice Brennan's idea of a living constitution figures largely into the center's work.[12] The Brennan Center started with an initial... The Carnegie Corporation in years since has donated over $3,650,000.[13] During the selection process of what school to center operations from, the Brennan Center selected New York University School of Law (NYU Law) out...

The Brennan Center is part think tank, part public interest law firm, and part advocacy group. The organization is involved in issues such as opposing voter ID laws that it believes unduly restrict voter registration, and other barriers to registration and voting, and advocates for redistricting reform and campaign finance... The Brennan Center's work is divided into three programs—Democracy, Justice, and Liberty & National Security.[16] Past programs focused on criminal justice, poverty, and economic justice.[17] The organization has focus on issues both at the... Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The Trump administration is suing another six states -- five with Democratic leadership and one with a Republican governor -- on accusations of violating federal law by refusing to hand over... The lawsuits filed Tuesday by the Justice Department ask the court to force Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington to hand over their voter registration lists.

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