The Biden administration has proposed a new rule to protect people’s voting rights in light of the unprecedented damage caused by the Trump administration’s broad-scale voter purges. The rule, put forth by the U.S. Department of Justice, would limit the ability of state officials to remove voters from voter rolls for not having voted in recent elections.
The Trump administration oversaw a purge of millions of voter registrations across the U.S., with some states removing up to 17% of the names from their rolls between 2016 and 2018. High-profile cases in recent years have highlighted the disturbing consequences of these policies, with some eligible voters being wrongly removed and consequently unable to vote in an election.
The new rule proposed by the Biden administration seeks to reverse these devastating consequences while preserving the ability of state officials to keep their voter rolls accurate. It would require states to impose additional conditions before removing a voter from the list – including confirming their identity and confirming their address before they can be removed.
In addition, the rule also requires states to provide 30 days’ notice and an appeal process for those who are being purged from the rolls. It also requires that states publish national and state-level voting statistics on a quarterly basis to better track the process and make it more transparent.
The proposed rule provides a much needed counterweight to the Trump administration’s devastating voter purges and is a welcome sign that the Biden administration is committed to protecting the voting rights of all Americans. The move has been widely praised by civil rights advocates and other voting rights activists, who believe the rule is an important step forward for the restoration of voting rights in the U.S.
While the rule must still be finalized, it is a bold and promising first step by the Biden administration to ensure that all eligible citizens are able to exercise their right to vote. It is now up to Congress to make the rule official by passing it into law.
