Wave of Anti-Voter State Laws Detailed by GAO

THE OFFICE OF SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Washington – New state laws that make it harder for millions of voters to cast ballots are detailed in a Government Accountability Office report released today.

The comprehensive study was requested by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). The senators asked the non-partisan research arm of Congress to investigate what they called an "alarming number" of new state laws that will make it "significantly harder" for millions of voters to cast ballots on Nov. 6.

Sanders called the voter restrictions, enacted mostly by Republican legislatures and governors, a "savage attack on American democracy." Leahy said "we must work to protect one of the most fundamental rights Americans enjoy." Durbin said the report confirms that the spate of state voting laws is making it harder for millions of disabled, young, minority, rural, elderly and low-income Americans to vote. "Despite widespread public outcry," Nelson said, "state lawmakers have tried to make it harder" to vote.