Dr Tom Cutterham explains why voting rules and methods vary from state to state so much.
“The US constitution left the administration of federal elections mostly in the hands of the individual states, and as a result there is an enormous array of different rules. Voting can work very differently, and the barriers to voting can be higher or lower, depending on what state you live in.
Broadly speaking, the rules in each state reflect the preferences of the dominant party, or dominant group of voters. One classic example of how this plays out goes all the way back to New Jersey in 1807, where the dominant Jeffersonians removed the right to vote for unmarried women of property in the state. Up until then, New Jersey's "petticoat electors" had tended to favour the Jeffersonians' rivals, the Federalists. Other examples are found across the Jim Crow South, where literacy tests and other mechanisms aimed at excluding Black voters from the franchise in spite of the equal rights granted by the Fifteenth Amendment. Those measures were outlawed under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In recent decades, trends have mostly been straightforward. Liberal, Democratic-leaning states like California tend to have looser regulations that make voting easier, while conservative, Republican-leaning states like Kansas make voting harder—or, from their perspective, more secure. In an age of hyper-partisanship, boosting turnout on your own side and reducing it on the other is as important as trying to convince floating voters. That doesn't mean Trump's Republicans always prefer or benefit from stricter regulations, though. As the Republican coalition shifts towards the less-educated, including increasing numbers of young men, they might seek gains in blue-leaning swing-states where the barriers to voting are low.
The other factor playing into all this is the rhetoric of "voter fraud," which Trump's Republicans have often mobilised alongside their wider anti-immigrant message. Without a common set of regulations for elections, it's much easier to whip up fear and scandal over different voting practices. That, in turn, helps those who want to boost uncertainty about the outcome.”
Associate Professor of United States History
Biographical and contact information for Dr Tom Cutterham, Associate Professor of United States History, at the Department of History, University of Birmingham.
