Battleground states wielding election power with raft of new laws poised to impact 2024 results

The seven battleground states that will decide the winner of the White House race have changed election laws, including new voter ID requirements, bans on “Zuckerbucks,” expanded voting by mail and signature requirements on absentee ballots.

These laws are poised to impact the outcome of the Nov. 5 presidential election, which polls indicate is nearly tied, and could influence which party controls the House and Senate.

Less than two months before the election, laws are still shifting in key swing states.

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election was one of the closest in the nation. It was followed by claims that the contest was rigged to ensure more ballots were counted for Mr. Biden, who won the state by 20,000 votes, or less than 1% of the vote.

Since then, the Republican-led Wisconsin Legislature has tried to change the state’s election laws to shorten the voting window and ensure that nobody votes illegally.

Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed all of the proposals, leaving most of Wisconsin’s 2020 election laws in place. State voters made a significant change this year by passing a referendum banning private funding and nongovernmental equipment from Wisconsin elections.

The law, adopted in several other swing states, means election officials can’t use money from billionaire donors to hire people to collect ballots or to purchase equipment, such as “mobile voting vans,” to mine absentee ballot boxes or hunt for voters.

“There is no money to administer all that,” said Ronald Heuer, president of Wisconsin Voter Alliance, a watchdog group.

Critics say Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $400 million donation in 2020 was used to disproportionately increase voter turnout in Democratic-leaning districts of swing states. Roughly $10 million was spent in Wisconsin.

Mr. Zuckerberg has stopped making contributions to public elections, but the Wisconsin law blocks funding from other donors or private organizations involved in election funding, including the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which administered much of the “Zuckerbucks” election funding in 2020.

PENNSYLVANIA

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled this month that the state could require voters to write the correct date on their mail ballot envelope for their vote to be counted. The law, contested by the American Civil Liberties Union, resulted in thousands of discarded ballots in recent elections because they were not dated correctly by the voter. Those flawed ballots, which could number in the thousands, won’t be counted this year, either, which could tip what is expected to be a tight race.

Joseph R. Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020 by 80,000 votes, or less than 2% of the vote. Polls now show Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in a dead heat.

In another change, eligible voters are automatically registered to vote under a system implemented last year by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, which could drive up turnout.

The state now requires mail-in ballots to arrive by Election Day, eliminating a three-day, postelection grace period allowed in 2020.

Ban on Zuckerbucks? Yes.

MICHIGAN

The Democratic-controlled state government in Michigan passed a dozen bills since the 2020 election to expand voting and loosen restrictions to prevent voter fraud. The 2020 election in Michigan wasn’t as close as in other battlegrounds. Mr. Trump lost to Mr. Biden by more than 150,000 votes, or nearly 3% of the vote. This year’s race is poised to be much closer. Polls show Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris statistically tied.

Since 2020, Michigan expanded the list of valid voter identification at polling sites to include military, student and tribal ID cards and enacted a law requiring at least nine days of early voting. Another new Michigan law requires at least one “secure drop box” for ballots in every municipality or for every 15,000 registered voters. The boxes, which critics say lack sufficient security and encourage fraud, must be accessible 24 hours a day for 40 days before an election, up until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The state also established a permanent absentee voter list that allows voters who sign up to receive a ballot by mail in all elections without having to request one and opened preregistration, allowing 16-year-olds to vote once they turn 18.

Ban on Zuckerbucks? No.

GEORGIA

In Georgia, where Mr. Trump unsuccessfully sought to convince election officials in 2020 that votes in his favor were suppressed, new laws are in place that the Republican-controlled state government said will increase public confidence in the outcome.

Critics say the new laws will decrease voter access, but Georgia has shown increased voter participation.

The new laws give voters less time to request a mail-in ballot, add new voter ID requirements, reduce and restrict ballot drop-box use and bar election offices from mailing ballots to voters who have not requested them.

Georgia increased voter ID requirements after receiving a record number of mail-in votes in 2020.

To vote by mail, voters without a driver’s license or state identification card on their registrations must verify their identities with other documents, such as a utility bill or a bank statement.

The state also banned mobile voting vans, which critics say were used to drive up turnout in Democratic-heavy precincts.

Ban on Zuckerbucks? Yes.

ARIZONA

The battle over election laws continues in Arizona.

In August, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Arizona Republicans to reinstate a law requiring election officials to verify proof of citizenship of voters in local and state elections. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard additional arguments in the case last week.

Another law will make it easier and faster for those convicted of multiple felonies to restore their right to vote. The state also expanded hours for in-person voting before Election Day and enacted a law making it illegal to mail ballots to voters who did not request them.

Ban on Zuckerbucks? Yes.

NORTH CAROLINA

The biggest change in North Carolina’s election law is the implementation of voter ID requirements.

For the first time, state residents must show photo ID at the polls.

The state also changed the deadline for mail-in ballots, eliminating the three-day grace period for ballots postmarked on Election Day.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal think tank, if the Election Day deadline had been imposed in 2020, more than 11,600 ballots would have been discarded.

Ban on Zuckerbucks? Yes.

NEVADA

The state codified many of the 2020 election changes made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most significantly, mail-in balloting.

Election officials said every active registered voter in Nevada will receive a mail-in ballot, and each county will have “widely available” mail ballot drop boxes.

Ballots will be counted if postmarked by Election Day and received by the state election department by 5 p.m. on the fourth day after the election.

Nevada made another key election change in May.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar announced that election officials will begin counting mail ballots when they arrive instead of waiting for the polls to close on Election Day. The change could speed up results. In 2020 and 2022, state election officials took several days to tabulate the results after being swamped with mail-in ballots.

Ban on Zuckerbucks? No.