Where voting is getting easier

+ Kamala Harris’ biracial identity US Edition - Today's top story: Grassroots efforts to increase voting are gaining momentum in these states, even as other states make voting harder [View in browser]( US Edition | 8 August 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( You would be forgiven if you thought that the story of voting rights in the U.S. over the past eight years was entirely a doom-and-gloom type of tale. Laws were being tightened to deny the franchise to people who should have been eligible to vote. Barriers were being erected to voting, from ending mail voting to barring the use of ballot boxes. In sum: Democracy was suffering! “[But some good news gets lost]( in the many reports of doom,” writes Tova Wang in our lead story. Wang is a senior researcher in democratic practice at Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Her expertise is in increasing political participation among marginalized groups. And she says the public has missed out on a big, positive story: “Many states in recent years have made significant advances toward promoting a more inclusive democracy.” Wang provides a tour through many of those advances, including Minnesota legislation that, among many other measures, “allows 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote and have their registration automatically activated when they turn 18.” In New Mexico, legislation there “restores the voting rights of formerly incarcerated people immediately upon release from prison” and “expands voting access on tribal lands.” And Wang tells more than just good news. Her story includes the crucial analysis that all this legislation would be meaningless without comprehensive work to put the various measures into practice. “After these hard-won victories comes another challenge: implementing these laws so that new registration and voting opportunities are taken,” she writes. Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy Groundbreaking advances in the right to vote have been made over the past two years in the U.S. LPETTET/Getty Images [Grassroots efforts to increase voting are gaining momentum in these states, even as other states make voting harder]( Tova Wang, Harvard Kennedy School Americans have been hearing for years that democracy is being eroded and is literally at stake in the upcoming presidential election. But there is good news on the voting front as well. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks to supporters during a campaign rally in West Allis, Wis., on July 23, 2024. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images [Kamala Harris’ identity as a biracial woman is either a strength or a weakness, depending on whom you ask]( Jennifer Ho, University of Colorado Boulder While many voters embrace Kamala Harris’ candidacy and the fact that she is a multiracial woman without any biological children, some Republicans are using her identity as fodder for attacks. Kamala Harris, at her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next Democratic Party presidential nominee. AP Photo/Alex Brandon [Democratic Party’s choice of Harris was undemocratic − and the latest evidence of party leaders distrusting party voters]( Daniel Klinghard, College of the Holy Cross Handing VP Kamala Harris the Democratic presidential nomination without having her compete in primaries is a throwback to less democratic ways of picking nominees, a political scientist says. 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