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July 2021

President Joe Biden will hold a private meeting in the White House, with a number of groups, concerning voting rights. Voting rights advocates have been calling for the President to do more for the issue since the Senate blocked an ambitious election reform bill last month. While Biden has announced that he intends to “speak extensively” on the matter and is considering “going on the road on this issue,” firm plans have yet to be announced. The groups President Biden will be meeting

US District Judge J.P. Boulee has ruled against an attempt to overturn portions of a recent Georgia voting law. The Coalition for Good Governance, who filed the lawsuit, had hoped to invalidate, in time for upcoming state run-offs, a provision requiring voters to request absentee ballots at least 11 days before election day. While the effort to file an injunction before the run-offs has failed, the Coalition’s larger lawsuit against the voting law is still pending in federal court.      Visit the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to learn more. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has called for the state legislature to open a special session, following the US Supreme Court’s decision to uphold two Arizona laws that were recently challenged by voting rights advocates. It is expected that Abbot will ask legislators to consider further changes to Texas voting laws. This new session also comes after a dramatic walk-out was staged by Texas Democrats last May in protest of a voting bill they argued was discriminatory and unnecessarily restrictive. Democratic Representative Jessica Gonzalez of

 The Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 in favor of two state laws in Arizona, setting a precedent which voting rights advocates argue will make it more difficult for disadvantaged and non-white citizens to vote. One law holds that only a voter, themselves, or a member of their family, or a caregiver may collect or deliver a ballot on their behalf. The other mandates that election officials eliminate votes that were accidentally cast in the wrong precinct.    Visit NBC News to learn more. Image Credit: David (CC BY

 Eric Adams maintains a thin lead in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, trailed closely by Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley. The NYC Board of Elections stunned the city when it retracted an earlier count as it has struggled to implement a ranked-choice voting system for the first time. Supporters of ranked-choice voting argue that the confusion was the result of human error and not a flaw inherent to the method, itself.   Visit the Associated Press to learn more. Image Credit: Krystalb97 (CC BY-SA 4.0)