End Mass Criminalization Action Group

In the first three quarters of 2011, state governments across the country have suddenly enacted an array of
new laws and policies making it harder to vote. Some states require voters to show government-issued photo
identification, often of a type that as many as one in ten voters do not have. Other states have cut back on
early voting, a hugely popular innovation used by millions of Americans. Two states reversed earlier reforms
and once again disenfranchised millions who have past criminal convictions but who are now taxpaying
members of the community. Still others made it much more difficult for citizens to register to vote, a prerequisite
for voting.
These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters
with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election. Already
19 new laws and two new executive actions are in place.