Analysis: US midterms: 42 new voting laws since 2021 risk undermining confidence in U.S. democracy

A hand putting a ballot in a voting box - Matthew Schlachter (UCL Institute of the Americas) explores in The Conversation what new restrictive voting laws could mean for Americans' confidence in democracy. Soon after the first results had been declared in the 2020 US midterm elections it became clear that the "red wave" of Republican victories many pundits had thought would hand them control of both houses of Congress was not materialising as expected. And what was especially marked was that candidates backed by the former president, Donald Trump, had not fared well. Many of these Republican candidates had followed Trump in denying the validity of the results of the 2020 US presidential election, something which may affect his decision about whether to run for the presidency in 2024. This year's midterms are highly consequential, with the US president, Joe Biden, a Democrat, declaring that "democracy is at risk". After the 2020 election, which should have been heralded for a record-breaking turnout instead engendered conspiracy theories from the right wing of the Republican party. These have sowed doubt on the legitimacy of the election results among a significant minority of the US population.