State Election Law Changes

Wondering how Connecticut’s election laws compare with those in other states? A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office provides a national survey of state election laws pertaining to voter registration and identification requirements, early voting, and no-excuse absentee voting. The report also examines changes to state laws in these areas that occurred within the last 10 years.

Among the report’s highlights were that (1) 31 states require all eligible voters to show identification (but not necessarily a photo ID) at the polls on Election Day and (2) 35 states and Washington, DC allow either early voting or no-excuse absentee voting (or both). Of the 31 states with identification requirements, 18 of them enacted those requirements within the past 10 years.