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The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the winners of its 2009 Youth Activist Scholarship contest. Sixteen high school seniors from across the country will each receive a $12,500 college scholarship in recognition of their outstanding work to protect civil liberties, especially for young people.
Since 2000, the ACLU has awarded scholarships annually to honor the efforts of graduating seniors who have demonstrated a strong commitment to civil liberties and civil rights through student activism. Last year, the ACLU greatly increased the scholarship amount and expanded the program to include a youth activist institute, bringing the winners together to further their civil liberties work.
"These students stepped up to defend their rights as students and as Americans during a time when civil liberties were under constant attack," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "We know they will remain vigilant even as America begins to repair the damage that has been done. We are so pleased to be able to offer this scholarship to America's next generation of civil liberties leaders."
Below are highlights of the accomplishments of this year's winners and quotes from their personal essays. Full profiles and photos are available by clicking on the winners' names.
Elizabeth Asefa
Cambridge, MA
As a high school junior, Elizabeth created and taught a class to seventh grade boys and girls at her former middle school aimed at lowering the risk that they would enter into the "school-to-prison" pipeline. She has also played a leadership role in youth summits, the Minority Student Achievement Network, the Cambridge Peace and Justice Corps, Students Teaching and Advocating Respect and other activities designed to address injustice, racism, violence, the school to prison pipeline and other issues facing youth in her community.
"I couldn't pretend that my age could be a real deterrent from making a dent in the pipeline that was shamelessly transporting my peers from school to prison. I knew I had to start in my time, for my generation."
Anne Bartholomew
Juneau, AK
As the lead defense attorney for the Juneau Youth Court, Anne is dedicated to helping young people between the ages of 12 and 17 facing legal trouble gain a second chance. In this position she discovered certain trends of biased sentencing for Alaska Native youth, whose voices often go unheard in the community, and worked for the next three years to reduce that inequality. Anne also acts as a resource to the community for issues concerning youth, including serving on a panel at a town hall meeting about underage drinking, on the Truancy and Dropout Coalition and on the Alaska State Activities Association Board of Directors.
"Through service to juvenile offenders, I became a civil liberties activist seeking equal justice for Alaska Native students. I realized that there was an unintended bias in our sentencing, and that action needed to be taken to restore equality within the Juneau Youth Court."
Sangeeta Bhola
Oceanside, NY
Sangeeta Bhola has grown into a leader of human rights advocacy at her school as an active member and leader in her school's Gay-Straight Alliance. She has overcome fears of ridicule from her peers in order to speak out about equality for LGBT students. Sangeeta is now the president of the GSA and has successfully lobbied her school to adopt the Safe Schools Initiative and begun work on a plan to curb hate speech.
"Our country has based itself on diversity and individuality, but many individuals are not allowed to express who they truly are. I would like to hope that our government realizes that by not protecting the LGBT community, they are greatly harming students as well as adults."
Constance Castillo
San Francisco, CA
Constance Castillo became an active member of her local ACLU Youth Activist Committee as a high school freshman. Over the last four years, she has visited state prisons, written op-eds, facilitated workshops on gender in the media and police brutality, and helped organize a social justice youth conference attended by youth from all over northern California. During that time, Constance has also created spoken word performances, film and art installations to speak to the issues that are important to her, and co-founded a club, S.P.E.A.K., where students address issues such as media influence and equity in education.
"Through spoken word poetry, I was able to share with urgency the many injustices I cared about with a large audience of youth that cared about what I had to say."
Alex Freid
Lee, NH
As a sophomore, Alex Fried was surprised to find recruiters from the National Guard setting up obstacle courses in his high school gym. After doing some research, Alex concluded that the military sometimes uses misleading information and false promises to recruit young people, so he decided to launch a campaign to make sure students have access to the information they need to make informed decisions about what to do after graduation. What began as a one-person effort to educate students on their right to "opt out" of sharing their personal information with recruiters and to offer information on alternative programs turned into the launch of a local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. Now boasting over 80 members from local high schools and the University of New Hampshire, the group works to counter excessive military recruitment in the schools and to protect student rights.
"I believe that a civil liberties activist must not only make their own voice heard, but must organize others as well. I saw the need for an organization that cared about students' rights as much as I did, and for a sustainable group that could continue after I graduate."
Heather Gillman
Ponce de Leon, FL
When school officials at her school banned all rainbow-themed clothing and began punishing students for writing "gay pride" on their arms and notebooks, Heather Gilman filed a lawsuit to protect students' First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was an act of extreme bravery, since Heather faced intimidation and ridicule from her principal and others. Heather eventually won her case, reaffirming the right of students to express their support for their gay and lesbian peers.
A video about Heather's case is available online at: www.aclu.org/lgbt/youth/38778res20090224.html
"I did not fully realize how much this meant to me and others until Judge Smoak made his decision. I looked around the courtroom and saw tears in the eyes of most of the people there. I had seen it as just doing what was right."
Dora James
Hartford, KY
After enduring personal ridicule and learning of acts of violence against her fellow students, Dora James helped to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in her rural Kentucky community. Facing threats and protests, Dora met with the superintendent and local ministers to ensure that the GSA could continue to operate so that other students could feel safe at school.
"I felt something had to happen, and that it was up to me to make it happen. I could make a difference. I felt that students who didn't get support at home should be able to feel safe at school."
Rachel Kaplan
Fairbanks, AK
After reading about an ACLU client who was prevented from boarding a flight until he agreed to cover up his shirt that read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic, Rachel Kaplan decided to take action. She started by distributing shirts with the same message to a large group of students at her school, which drew attention to the issue and got the whole school talking. After that, Rachel became the student advisor to the ACLU of Alaska's Board of Directors, helping to plan a student leadership conference and travelling to the nationwide ACLU membership conference where she lobbied Alaska's lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Rachel continues to use the skills she learned working with the ACLU to be a leader in the grassroots civil liberties movement in her school, community and state.
"Civil liberties activists have a constructive purpose driving their actions. They are a type of artist, carefully selecting their form of protest to convey their message and convince their audience of its importance."
Hannah Kapp-Klote
Lawrence, KS
As the president of her school's Gay-Straight Alliance and a board member of the district Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Hannah Kapp-Klote has long been devoted to promoting the rights of LGBTQ youth. As a high school junior, she discovered a new medium for her activism when she became a co-producer and host of the Tenth Voice, youth radio program focusing on LGBTQ issues. Hannah went to work expanding the content and reach of the show, which has become crucial to promoting the civil liberties of LGBTQ youth in her community. Hannah is also dedicated to promoting religious freedom, and founded a group devoted to combating discrimination against atheists and agnostics though community service and activism.
"If our nation is to protect individual freedoms, we need discussion everywhere, from the floor of Congress to the smallest classroom."
Miles Lifson
Rockville, MD
Miles Lifson's has been an activist since, as a seventh grader, he started an organization dedicated to protecting student rights. Later, as president of the ACLU club which he helped start at his high school, Miles has worked with the principal to reform the school's policy on student privacy and searches and helped create a booklet and Web site detailing students' rights. On his own, Miles embarked on a summer of activism training by volunteering at the ACLU membership conference and attending trainings in grassroots organizing and non-violent action. Miles is now training younger students to continue the work of the ACLU club after he graduates.
"Being a civil liberties activist doesn't just mean standing up for rights, but constantly affirming their value. The most fundamental rights have no meaning if they are not exercised."
Ashley Moffat
Bellevue, NE
Ashley Moffat organized a Gay-Straight Alliance at her high school in Nebraska. Despite the success and obvious need for the group from the very first crowded meeting, school officials refused to recognize the GSA as a legitimate student group - denying it the benefits other clubs receive, like a mention in the yearbook and coverage in the school newspaper. With the help of the ACLU, Ashley has fought to ensure that the group gets the recognition and protection it deserves.
"No matter what I have to do, who I have to fight, or how long it takes me to fight it, I know I will not stop fighting until I, my friends, my family have all the same rights as everyone else."
Daniel Mootz
Carlisle, PA
Whether it's organizing a demonstration to promote reproductive freedom, writing a letter to the editor in favor of a local anti-discrimination ordinance, or fighting to get a political candidate he didn't support on his school's mock election ballot, Daniel Mootz has always fought for civil liberties. Daniel has also received a national writing award for a piece arguing against the honoring of only certain religions with school-recognized holidays, and was a finalist in The Nation's student writing contest for a piece on military recruitment in the schools.
"Civil liberties know no party lines, follow no party dogma. Civil liberties are rooted in the belief of doing what is right to protect freedom, not to promote a political cause."
Colin Moyer
University Place, WA
Colin Moyer became concerned for his First Amendment rights when his tenth grade biology teacher began teaching the theory of intelligent design during a unit on evolution. After doing some research, Colin learned of the Kitzmiller case in Dover, Pennsylvania, where the teaching of intelligent design in science class was deemed unconstitutional. Colin contacted the ACLU and the National Center for Science Education, and together they came up with a plan to work with the school administration to stop the teacher from teaching intelligent design. It worked - the issue was quickly resolved and the material is no longer being taught at Colin's school. Colin has also done considerable work to promote free speech by starting an underground newspaper and educating student journalists on their rights regarding censorship.
"For me, being an activist means standing up for people's rights and exposing abuses of power. It is not about a personal agenda or making a scene; it is about defending civil liberties and getting the job done."
Steven Ross
Zionsville, IN
Steven Ross's interest in activism was sparked when he worked with the ACLU of Indiana to successfully challenge his town's unconstitutional curfew ordinance. Recognizing the many threats to the civil liberties of young people, Steven went on to found the Zionsville Students' Rights Union in order to protect students' rights and protect youth rights outside of school. Under his leadership, the group has grown to more than 450 members, become affiliated with the National Youth Rights Administration (NYRA), and worked to reform various school policies. Colin is also supervising the establishment of more NYRA chapters throughout Indiana. The groups is currently working to promote the rights of LGBT students and to protect religious freedom in the schools.
"The greatest problem, I believe, was that students felt they had no voice to challenge the issues that unduly threatened their civil liberties. I suggested to my fellow students that we form an independent student group to become that voice."
Grace Sun
Houston, TX
Despite attempts by school officials to stop her, Grace Sun fought to form the Bellaire Young Democrats club. And to ensure that all students at her school had a platform to express themselves, she also helped a group of friends form the Bellaire Young Republican club. From there, she launched the "Under 21 Campaign," an effort to increase political involvement among young citizens in her county, and organized registration drives and "get out the vote" efforts among young voters. Grace's belief in the importance of giving youth a voice in their community doesn't stop there - she has also served on the Houston Mayor's Youth Council and stands up for First Amendment rights as the a student journalist.
"Through my experiences, I've learned that we have to be willing to stand up and fight for what we believe in. Perhaps equally important, I've learned that nothing happens unless we make it happen."
Natalia Thompson
Madison, WI
Natalia Thompson is dedicated to helping young women take action on the issues that matter to them most. At 15, she founded Speak Out, Sister!, a city-wide organization to get teen girls involved in the decisions that effect them, like policies on sexual harassment and access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare. To help them take a stand, Natalia organized a forum for high school girls to develop the skills they need to get involved, and the forum evolved into a series of workshops emphasizing local social justice issues, women's history and grassroots organizing. Natalia has also been hard at work organizing a girl-written Platform for Action on civil liberties issues affecting young women in her community, which will provide comprehensive recommendations on six main issues to policymakers.
"I realized most local initiatives and policies were developed by adults - with little input from the young women directly impacted by their decisions."
A full list of the winners is available online at: www.aclu.org/students/38938res20090305.html
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666"Caremark, ESI, and Optum—as medication gatekeepers—have extracted millions of dollars off the backs of patients who need lifesaving medications," said one agency leader.
The Federal Trade Commission on Friday initiated a legal process against middlemen that collectively administer about 80% of all prescriptions in the United States, accusing them of artificially inflating the list price of insulin drugs and blocking patients from accessing cheaper products.
The FTC action targets the "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs): CVS Health's Caremark Rx, Cigna's Express Scripts (ESI), and UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx. It also involves their affiliated group purchasing organizations (GPOs): Zinc Health Services, Ascent Health Services, and Emisar Pharma Services.
"Millions of Americans with diabetes need insulin to survive, yet for many of these vulnerable patients, their insulin drug costs have skyrocketed over the past decade thanks in part to powerful PBMs and their greed," said Rahul Rao, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.
"Caremark, ESI, and Optum—as medication gatekeepers—have extracted millions of dollars off the backs of patients who need lifesaving medications," Rao continued. "The FTC's administrative action seeks to put an end to the Big Three PBMs' exploitative conduct and marks an important step in fixing a broken system—a fix that could ripple beyond the insulin market and restore healthy competition to drive down drug prices for consumers."
The FTC's vote to begin the legal process by filing a complaint was 3-0. Led by Chair Lina Khan, the Democrats supported the move while the two Republicans, Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew N. Ferguson, recused.
The American Prospect executive editor David Dayen noted that "the complaint, which was filed in an administrative court, has not yet been made public, as it is undergoing redactions. Agency officials expect it to be made public on Monday."
However, in a statement after the vote, the FTC shared some details about the complaint's arguments that "Caremark, ESI, and Optum and their respective GPOs engaged in unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act by incentivizing manufacturers to inflate insulin list prices, restricting patients' access to more affordable insulins on drug formularies, and shifting the cost of high list price insulins to vulnerable patient populations."
Rao emphasized that while the commission on Friday "exercised its discretion to move forward with suing only the PBMs and GPOs now, FTC staff's investigation has also shed light on the concerning and active role that the insulin manufacturers—Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk—play in the challenged conduct."
"All drug manufacturers should be on notice that their participation in the type of conduct challenged here can raise serious concerns, with a potential for significant consumer harm, and that the Bureau of Competition reserves the right to recommend naming drug manufacturers as defendants in any future enforcement actions over similar conduct," he said.
Emma Freer, senior policy analyst for healthcare at the American Economic Liberties Project, pointed out that "the FTC's case adds to the mounting, bipartisan criticism of the 'Big Three' PBMs, which for far too long have exploited their monopoly power to inflate drug prices and enrich shareholders at the expense of patients' health and pocketbooks."
"The lawsuit also exposes their industrywide abuse, using insulin—the price of which has soared over 1,200% since 1999—as a flagship example of how PBMs' rebate schemes distort markets and drive up costs for lifesaving drugs," Freer said. "While PBMs bear much of the blame, the FTC is right to also put brand-name manufacturers like Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi on notice for their role in this crisis. We're thrilled to see the commission bring this long overdue challenge against healthcare's most notorious middlemen, and hope to see it result in concrete reform and accountability."
As The New York Timesreported:
Just weeks before the presidential election, the agency is tackling an issue that Vice President Kamala Harris has signaled an interest in. Campaigning at a community college in Raleigh, North Carolina, in August, Ms. Harris promised to "demand transparency from the middlemen who operate between Big Pharma and the insurance companies, who use opaque practices to raise your drug prices and profit off your need for medicine."
Former President Donald J. Trump has not campaigned on the issue, but in 2018, his administration proposed a sweeping change that would have threatened the benefit managers' business model. The proposal was never enacted. Mr. Trump's administration also created a model for capping Medicare patients' out-of-pocket costs for some insulin products that was later expanded under President [Joe] Biden.
The Times also noted that "some Republicans in Congress have proposed curbing some of the benefit managers' business practices. But other top Republicans have defended PBMs and said the FTC is overreaching."
Among the GOP's critics of PBMs is House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who highlighted his panel's investigations into the companies and praised the FTC move.
Another leading congressional critic of PBMs—and the country's failing for-profit healthcare system more broadly—is Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats.
After a public pressure campaign led Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi to cut list prices of insulin products last year, Sanders held a hearing with their CEOs as well as PBM executives. At the time, he welcomed the voluntary reductions but also stressed that as "Americans pay outrageously high prices for prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry and the PBMs make enormous profits."
While the FTC's Friday action was widely praised—other than by the PBMs, who denied the allegations—some advocates hope the commission and other decision-makers will go even further in the future.
Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, called PBMs "some of the most predatory corporations in healthcare" and highlighted that "these companies have incredibly long rap sheets and convictions at the state level."
"I'm thrilled the FTC is going after these criminal enterprises," she said. "I hope this lawsuit, with its focus on kickbacks, is just the beginning. We also need action on how PBMs harm local pharmacies. Ultimately, these corporations need to be broken up."
Organizer March for Our Lives said the statewide walkouts "speak to the urgency and frustration young people feel after yet another shooting has been met with only 'thoughts and prayers.'"
Joined by educators, parents, and gun control advocates, thousands of Georgia students on Friday staged a classroom walkout organized by the youth-led March for Our Lives "to demand a future free from gun violence" following the September 4 mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, the deadliest such event in the state's history.
March for Our Lives (MFOL)—which was founded in the wake of the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—said that Friday's walkouts "speak to the urgency and frustration young people feel after yet another shooting has been met with only 'thoughts and prayers.'"
Two Apalachee students—Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both age 14—and teachers Richard Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie were shot dead by a 14-year-old armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. Nine others were wounded in the attack.
The shooter was arrested and charged with four counts of murder. His father, Colin Gray, was also arrested and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children for purchasing the gun used in the shooting and giving it to his son.
"Across Georgia, Republican leaders—like those who control the majority on the Cobb Board of Education and both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly—refuse to take commonsense action to protect our communities and our lives from preventable gun violence," MFOL said.
The group continued:
We will never allow our elected officials to forget the senseless act of violence that could have been prevented at Apalachee High School. We will honor the lives of Cristina Irimie, Christian Angulo, Mason Schermerhorn, and Richard Aspinwall with action. Everyone has the fundamental right to feel safe in our schools and our communities, and we will continue to fight until that freedom is a reality for all.
Guns are the No. 1 killer of children and teens in our country, and far too many educators and students go to school with the daily fear that their community could be next. This failure is a choice that our leaders are making for us. Today, we join organizers and students from over 30 high schools all across Georgia in calling on Gov. Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones, and the Georgia General Assembly to commit their support for the passage of the Pediatric Health Safe Storage Act at the start of the 2025 legislative session.
"The Georgia General Assembly and Gov. Brian Kemp, the sad truth is that they have made us feel less safe," said Saif Hasan, a senior at Lambert High School and county organizing deputy director at the Georgia Youth Justice Coalitionwholed hundreds of students in a walkout on Friday.
"This weekend, we're going to be out knocking doors in Suwanee, Roswell, and East Cobb to help elect new leaders who will build the future we deserve," Hasan added. "We're going to be out talking to Georgians about safe storage to make sure kids my age are never scared to go to school."
Apalachee High School junior Sasha Contreras said during a Friday walkout rally in Gwinnett that "I wasn't going to speak today but seeing and hearing everyone's courage in showing up today and taking action made me realize that my voice was important."
"There is nothing being done to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again. As a student that has [Advanced Placement] exams at the end of the school year as well as leadership positions, I understand the importance of going back to school," Contreras added. "However, many of my peers including myself feel anxious about returning with no preventative measures in place."
March for Our Lives director of organizing Gaby Salazar said that "we are so proud to support this student-led action, but heartbroken that we keep having to walk out of our classes again and again to get our leaders to listen to us."
"Guns kill more kids than any other cause in the state of Georgia," Salazar added. "More than cancer, more than car accidents. Even though a sweeping majority of Americans support commonsense gun laws, we know it's an uphill battle to convince state lawmakers to value our lives over the gun lobby's money. But young people in Georgia will not stop fighting until gun violence is a relic of the past."
One expert warned that requiring hand-counted ballots "could plunge the vote counting process into chaos and give Republicans yet another pretext not to certify the results" if Vice President Kamala Harris wins Georgia.
Forty-five days before U.S. elections and less than a month before early voting begins, former President Donald Trump's allies on the Georgia State Election Board on Friday passed a rule requiring county officials in the key swing state to count all ballots by hand, a move one expert said could "be exploited by election deniers" like Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee.
The board's pro-Trump majority voted 3-2 in favor of requiring hand counts, with Chair John Fervier, an Independent, casting one of the two dissenting votes.
"The overwhelming number of election officials that have reached out to me have been opposed to this," Fervier said in a statement. "There are several things that concern me about this. No. 1, I do think it's too close to the election. I do. I think that it's too late to train a lot of poll workers that have already started their training processes."
Fervier also said the board overstepped its authority by passing the new rule.
"This board is an administrative body, not a legislative body," he explained. "If the Legislature had wanted this, they would have put it in the statute. This board is not here to make law. We're here to interpret law, and I don't see any place in statute, where [it mentions] hand counting the ballots after they come out of the machines."
Sara Tindall Ghazal, the board's lone Democrat, toldMother Jones' Ari Berman that "we're so far off the deep end of sanity here."
"It's a terrible, terrible idea to do this sort of thing with no notice, no training," she added.
Berman warned that the rule change "could plunge the vote counting process into chaos and give Republicans yet another pretext not to certify the results" if Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, wins the state. He added that the new rule could even help Republicans "rig the state for Trump."
Trump, who lost Georgia to President Joe Biden by less than half a percentage point in 2020, infamously asked Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" in his favor. This prompted Democratic Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to launch an investigation that led to 13 criminal counts against Trump and numerous alleged co-conspirators for violations of the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act related to their participation in a sprawling "criminal enterprise" aimed at overturning the election.
In June, the Georgia Court of Appeals paused the case, in which judges have dismissed multiple counts against Trump and his co-defendants, four of whom have pleaded guilty.
Republican Georgia officials including Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr have also voiced concerns about hand counts.
However, Janelle King, a board member who supports Trump, said Friday that "what I don't want to do is set a precedent that we are OK with speed over accuracy."
Voting rights advocates decried the new rule.
"By mandating hand counts that can magnify discrepancies and potentially delay results, the Georgia State Election Board has taken another dangerous step to create doubt in our election process where there should be none," Kristin Nabers, Georgia state director at the advocacy group All Voting Is Local—which warned that the board is "purposely setting up [the] system to fail"—said in a statement Friday.
"Counting thousands of ballots by hand will be an incredibly tedious, expensive, and possibly error-prone process," she continued. "Any human errors can be exploited by election deniers to sow distrust and decrease confidence in our elections and in the hard-working election officials that run them."
"Many election workers have spoken recently about the threats they are facing from the conspiracy theorists who refuse to believe that our elections are fair, and these rules just add fuel to that fire," Nabers related.
"Implementing these drastic changes less than a month before the start of early voting means counties may have to restart their training of poll workers," she added. "These unnecessary hand counts are setting the county election offices up for failure. Today, we witnessed the board allow election deniers to complicate elections in the Peach State even further with their baseless conspiracy theories."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said that "instead of providing better access to the polls, extremists in Georgia are changing the rules just over a month before we elect new leaders."
"This new policy will only create more distrust of our safe and secure election system, burden election workers, and slow the vote count," she added.
It's not just Georgia. As Public Citizen noted Friday, "Since 2020, several states have implemented new voter restrictions to suppress turnout."
"Georgia, Texas, Montana, and Iowa have added new voter-restriction policies such as shortening early voting windows, requiring new voter registration if voters don't participate in the previous election, forbidding automatic mailing absentee ballot applications, and requiring IDs at the polls," the group noted. "States have also purged voter roles and even sued to try to prevent voter registration efforts."
In Georgia, which enacted a Republican-led voter suppression law in 2021, voters experienced a dramatic increase in mail-in ballot rejections during subsequent municipal elections.
As Common Dreams reported at the time, the law imposed strict voter identification requirements, significantly limited the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, eliminated mobile voting vans, and made it a crime to give water to people waiting in line to vote.