Eleven US States Vote on New Voting Restrictions

Voters in eleven U.S. states will decide on new voting restrictions during the November midterms, marking a record year for such measures. Six states—California, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Ohio, and North Carolina—will vote on whether to require government-issued identification to cast ballots. Five other states—South Dakota, Alaska, Kansas, Arkansas, and West Virginia—will weigh in on whether only U.S. citizens may vote in any election.

These state-level efforts follow a stalled Republican-backed election overhaul in Congress. At the federal level, Donald Trump has advocated for the Save America Act, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is cross-checking voter records with citizenship databases. To support these efforts, hundreds of federal immigration officers have been reassigned to combat voter fraud.

In Ohio, legal battles have emerged over registration requirements. U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. blocked an effort to require proof of citizenship for voter registration at motor vehicle offices, ruling the move exceeds federal law under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has appealed this decision to maintain the stricter requirements.