根据布伦南正义中心(Brennan Center for Justice)的数据，州议员提出了250多项法案，使投票变得更加困难，该中心促进了更广泛的投票渠道。包括亚利桑那州、佐治亚州、爱荷华州、佛罗里达州和蒙大拿州在内的几个共和党控制的州最近颁布了法律，增加了限制措施，如限制使用投票箱邮寄选票或缩短提前投票时间。周二，亚利桑那州颁布了一项法律，要求定期清除其邮件投票名单。
一些主要由民主党控制的州也扩大了投票范围;俄克拉荷马州也是如此，该州在周二签署的立法中增加了一天的亲自提前投票。
前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)谎称2020年大选是偷来的，这推动了共和党的努力。尽管有所有相反的证据，但这一主张现在被他的政党中的许多人广泛接受。全国各地的州选举官员和两党法官都没有发现支持特朗普说法的证据，但共和党议员认为，需要新的更严格的规则来恢复对选举制度的信心。
这些法律引发了来自民主党和民权组织的十几起诉讼。这些挑战通常指控这些法律限制了人们参与政治和投票的能力，违反了美国宪法第一、第十四和第十五修正案。
参与投票斗争的民主党首席律师马克·埃利亚斯(Marc Elias)表示，诉讼“不是最佳途径”。
诉讼可能需要几个月或几年才能解决，目前还不清楚法院是否会对民主党的论点友好。随着特朗普任命保守派法官，一些联邦上诉法院可能最终会审理近年来转向右翼的案件。
自从美国最高法院取消了某些州在修改投票法之前必须事先获得联邦司法部批准的要求，民权律师就被剥夺了一个曾经强大的阻止投票限制的工具。律师们再次关注最高法院，因为法官们预计很快将对2016年亚利桑那州的投票案件作出裁决，该案件可能会进一步限制律师质疑投票限制的方式。
“最佳途径是国会通过HR1，”埃利亚斯说。"我们求助于法庭不是我们的第一选择，而是我们的最后选择。"
乔·拜登总统表示，这些法律是美国“倒退到吉姆·克劳时代”的标志，他说司法部正在研究佐治亚州的新法律。
范·霍伦说:“司法部也需要站出来，运用他们所掌握的一切权力。”。
民主党的选举改革将有效地削弱选民身份法，实行全国自动选民登记，并禁止党派不公正的选区划分。
尽管共和党人反对这项立法，但西弗吉尼亚州的森斯·乔·曼钦(Sens. Joe Manchin)和亚利桑那州的基尔斯顿·西内马(Kyrsten Sinema)等温和的民主党人反对改写参议院规则，以51票的简单多数通过这项提案。现在，需要60票才能通过共和党的阻挠。
曼钦周三表示支持一项范围更窄的投票法案，该法案将恢复司法部“预先清除”投票限制的要求。他的支持可能标志着对该措施的支持越来越多，尽管这也需要共和党的投票或参议院规则的改变。
尽管如此，民主党人周四似乎没有明确的前进道路，他们花了一部分时间在每周的参议院午餐上讨论HR1和投票。曼钦甚至不在那里;他正在西弗吉尼亚州接待第一夫人吉尔·拜登的来访。
民主党承诺继续前进，希望HR1的动态会有所改变。民主党参议员谢尔登·怀特豪斯(Sheldon Whitehouse)说:“我们必须把它拿到地板上，花些时间让它成熟。只要做出了真正的努力，心灵和思想就会改变。”
在5月6日与哈里斯的会议上，民权领袖指出，他们对一些州的公司公开反对投票法感到惊讶。他们建议让他们更热情地谈论投票权，甚至支持HR1。出席会议的公民和人权领导会议临时主席韦德·亨德森(Wade Henderson)表示，他们讨论了额外的诉讼，但没有就司法部的计划向哈里斯施压。
白宫表示，这次会议是哈里斯直接听取不同选区领导人“关于他们在实地动员网络和打击选民压制所做工作”的机会。
该组织谈论在地面和电视上建立政治反对派。共和党团体发布广告，宣传新的佐治亚州法律是确保选举的常识性方法。左倾的正义民主本周在亚利桑那州和佐治亚州开始了一场运动，由佐治亚州已故众议员约翰·刘易斯(John Lewis)发表演讲，他是一位长期的民权领袖。
该组织还担心分裂性的党派之争。
“许多支持者提出的一点是，这不是一个党派问题——这是关于确保所有人都能投票，”与会者、亚裔美国人促进正义组织主席约翰·杨说。
亨德森回忆说，哈里斯“确实明确表示，她和总统将利用他们的讲坛鼓励国会产生一些影响。”
Democrats search for a strategy to combat GOP voting laws
Florida and Montana, have recently enacted laws that add restrictions, such as limiting access to drop boxes for mail ballots or cutting early voting hours. On Tuesday, Arizona enacted a law that requires regular purges of its mail voting list.
Some states, largely Democratic-controlled ones, have also expanded voting; so has Oklahoma, which added a day of in-person early voting in legislation signed Tuesday.
The Republican push is spurred by former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. It's a claim now widely embraced, despite all evidence to contrary, by many in his party. State election officials across the country and judges of both parties found no evidence to support Trump's assertions, but Republican lawmakers argue that the new, tighter rules are needed to restore confidence in the election system.
The laws have triggered more than a dozen suits from Democrats and civil rights groups. The challenges generally allege the laws violate the First, 14th and 15th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by limiting people's ability to engage in politics and vote.
Marc Elias, the leading Democratic lawyer in the voting fight, said the litigation was “not the optimal way to go.”
Suits can take months or years to resolve, and it's far from clear the courts will be friendly to Democrats' arguments. Some of the federal appeals courts likely to end up hearing the cases shifted to the right in recent years as Trump named conservative judges.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court removed the requirement that certain states get advance approval from the federal Justice Department before changing voting laws, civil rights lawyers have been stripped of a once powerful tool to block voting restrictions. Lawyers are watching the Supreme Court again because the justices are expected to rule soon on a 2016 Arizona voting case that could further restrict ways lawyers can challenge voting limits.
“The optimal way to go is for Congress to pass HR1,” Elias said. “We turn to the courts not as our first choice but as our last.”
President Joe Biden, who has said the laws are a sign the nation is “backsliding into the days of Jim Crow,” has said the Justice Department is looking at the new Georgia law.
“The Justice Department needs to step up here, too, and just use whatever powers are at their disposal,” Van Hollen said.
The Democrats' election overhaul would effectively neuter voter ID laws, put in place national automatic voter registration and prohibit partisan gerrymandering.
While Republicans oppose the legislation, moderate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona oppose rewriting Senate rules to pass the proposal with simple 51-vote majority. Right now, it need 60 votes to clear a Republican filibuster.
Manchin on Wednesday expressed support for a narrower voting bill — one that would restore the requirement that the Justice Department “pre-clear" voting restrictions. His endorsement could be a sign of growing support for that measure, although it, too, would need Republican votes or a change in Senate rules.
Still, Democrats seemed to have no clear path forward Thursday after they spent part of their weekly Senate lunch to discussing HR1 and voting. Manchin wasn't even there; he was in West Virginia hosting a visit from first lady Jill Biden.
Democratic pledged to plow ahead, hoping the dynamics of HR1 would somehow change. “We got to take it to the floor and spend some real time there to have this ripen,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. “Hearts and minds can change when there's real effort that's made.”
At the meeting on May 6 with Harris, civil rights leaders noted they were surprised by how corporations have spoken out against voting laws in some states. They suggested enlisting them to speak more enthusiastically about the right to vote or even back HR1. They talked about additional litigation but did not press Harris on the Justice Department's plans, according to Wade Henderson, interim president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, who attended.
The White House said the meeting was an opportunity for Harris to hear directly from leaders of diverse constituencies “about the work they are doing on the ground to mobilize their networks and combat voter suppression.”
The group talked about building political opposition, both on the ground and on the airwaves. Republican groups have launched ads promoting the new Georgia law as a commonsense way to secure elections. The left-leaning Just Democracy this week began a campaign in Arizona and Georgia featuring a speech by the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a longtime civil rights leader.
The group also worried about the divisive partisanship.
“One point that a number of advocates brought up is that this is not a partisan issue — this is about making sure all people can vote,” said attendee John C. Yang, president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC.
Henderson recounted that Harris “did make clear that she and the president will use their bully pulpit to encourage Congress to make some impact.”
