Author

Zachary Roth

Zachary Roth

Zachary Roth is the National Democracy Reporter for States Newsroom.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has been a leader in putting the Biden administration on the defensive over its efforts to combat online disinformation. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

How U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson helped derail a fight against election lies

By: - November 27, 2023

Back in July, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. A federal court had recently granted a temporary injunction, in Missouri v. Biden, finding that the Biden administration had violated the First Amendment by coercing social media companies to remove content, related both to elections and the COVID-19 vaccine, that it […]

State, local elections offer good news for democracy

By: - November 9, 2023

The big news out of Tuesday’s elections was wins for Democrats and for reproductive rights in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. But small “d” democracy also had a good night: Virginians elected pro-voting majorities in both chambers, stymieing efforts to pass restrictive new voting laws. Ohioans turned out in large numbers to pass two popular […]

States that send a mail ballot to every voter really do increase turnout, scholars find

By: - October 9, 2023

Lately, a rough consensus has emerged among people who study the impact of voting policies: Though they often spark fierce partisan fighting, most changes to voting laws do little to affect overall turnout, much less election results. But one fast-growing reform appears to stand out as an exception. When every registered voter gets sent a ballot […]

Anti-democratic moves by state lawmakers raise fears for 2024 election

By: - September 25, 2023

In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers are threatening to impeach both the state’s election administrator, who is highly regarded nationally, and a state Supreme Court justice despite a ruling by the state’s judicial commission that the justice had done nothing wrong — effectively nullifying a recent statewide election she won, Democrats say. In North Carolina, a bill […]

Not just Ohio: Biased language is the hot new tactic to thwart ballot measures

By: - September 1, 2023

Abortion-rights supporters filed a lawsuit Monday against what they call “deceptive” ballot language produced by Ohio officials for the state’s closely-watched upcoming referendum on the issue. But it isn’t just the Buckeye State that’s lately seeing fierce battles over the once-obscure topic of ballot language. In recent weeks, officials in Missouri — where another abortion-rights measure is […]

Americans are worried about democracy. You wouldn’t know it from the GOP debate.

By: - August 26, 2023

There’s a growing feeling, among both experts and ordinary Americans, that our democracy isn’t functioning well — and even that it’s under threat. “American democracy is cracking,” the Washington Post reported August 18. “I’m terrified,” one democracy expert told the paper. “I think we are in bad shape, and I don’t know a way out.” Forty-nine percent […]

How Ohio’s Issue 1 could affect the rest of the country

By: and - August 1, 2023

CLEVELAND — Ohioans over the last century have used the state’s ballot initiative process to pass constitutional amendments that raised the minimum wage, integrated the National Guard and removed the phrase “white male” from the constitution’s list of voter eligibility requirements. Now, lawmakers want to make it much tougher for an initiative to be approved. […]

The study by political scientists from Stanford and Tufts universities appears just as a heated debate is flaring again in Congress over the partisan and racial impact of recent voting laws. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Changes in state election laws have little impact on results, new study finds

By: - July 19, 2023

In recent years, U.S. politics has been consumed by partisan fights over states’ election policies. But a new study by two political scientists is causing a stir by finding that state legislators’ changes to election laws — both those that tighten election rules in the name of integrity, and those that loosen rules to expand access — […]

A group of U.S. Senate Democrats is pressing the Biden administration to make it easier for the millions of Americans who sign up each year for health insurance through a federal website to register to vote. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Federal health insurance website lags in voter registration assistance, Democrats charge

By: - July 4, 2023

A group of U.S. Senate Democrats is pressing the Biden administration to make it easier for the millions of Americans who sign up each year for health insurance through a federal website to register to vote. The lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary […]

Red and blue state divide grows even wider in 2023’s top voting and election laws

By: - June 27, 2023

Next year’s elections are still 16 months away. But for voters, perhaps the most important developments took place during the first half of this year — when states drafted and passed the legislation that will shape how those contests are run. “The rules that will govern the 2024 election are being written today,” said Megan […]

States with low election turnout did little in 2023 to expand voting access

By: - June 21, 2023

This year’s state legislative sessions are almost all wrapped up. And on voting and elections policy, the headlines have largely focused on a new wave of restrictive voting laws passed in big Republican-led states like Florida, Texas and Ohio, as well as expansive laws approved in Democratic-led states like Michigan, Minnesota and New York. But […]

A college student voter. Getty Images.

Ruling in Alabama case could boost suits increasing Black voters’ power in other states

By: - June 13, 2023

In one sense, the Supreme Court’s surprise ruling striking down Alabama’s 2022 congressional maps maintains the legal status quo. By 5-4, the justices rejected the state’s attempt to restrict the ability of the Voting Rights Act to block gerrymanders that suppress the power of minority voters. But that dramatically understates the impact of the case, titled Allen v. Milligan, […]