A free society depends on the ability of its people to participate in democracy: to cast a ballot, exercise free speech, protest, and petition the government, including to disagree with those in power. These constitutional rights are the bedrock of self-government. Yet complex laws and aggressive enforcement increasingly expose individuals and organizations to criminal investigation, arrest, and prosecution simply for taking part in the political process.

NACDL offers resources and tools to help examine the criminalization of voting and protest through the lens of criminal defense and constitutional rights. It explores how criminal law is used to regulate conduct at the ballot box and during demonstrations, and what these prosecutions mean for the people who face the power of the state.

• First Amendment
• Criminal Case Tracker
• Criminalization of Voting

Get Involved

NACDL has launched the Criminalization of Voting Rights Rapid Response Team (NACDL membership is encouraged, but not required) to defend individuals and organization facing criminal investigation or prosecution over voting-related actions. Volunteers identify cases, conduct intakes, and relay them to NACDL's Criminalization of Voting Rights Committee.

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Key Resources

Organizations

• Campaign Legal Center
• Democracy Defenders Action
• Lawyers Defending American Democracy
• The Center for Election Innovation & Research
• Committee for Safe and Secure Elections: joint project bringing together local election officials and law enforcement to ensure safe and secure elections

Know your Rights Resources for Voters

• ACLU
• Democracy Forward
• Know Your Rights for Voters with Mental Disabilities – The Bazelon Center
• Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (includes state-by-state map)
• League of Women Voters
• Rock the Vote
• Vote.org

For Election Officials

• Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN)
• Mass Challenge Guidance, Campaign Legal Center
• State Laws Providing Protection for Election Officials and Staff, National Conference of State Legislatures
• Judges’ Statement on Possible Seizure of Ballots and other Election Materials, Democracy Defenders, Oct 2026

For Community Organizations

• Alabama justices tackle felony risk for helping disabled voters with absentee ballots, by Gabriel Tynes, Courthouse News Service, Oct. 14, 2026.
• Kansas attorney general orders League of Women Voters to stop paying teens to register to vote, Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector, Sept. 26, 2026.
• Republicans threaten voter registration volunteers with crimes, Matt Vasilogambros, Fair Elections Center, Aug. 11, 2021.

Rights Restoration

• RestoreYourVote.org, Campaign Legal Center
• After a felony, Virginia took away his right to vote. A court win is giving it back, Juan Benn, Jr., Washington Post (Oct. 10, 2026)

General News

• Justice Department charges more than 2 dozen in California sweep targeting alleged noncitizen voters by Safiyah Riddle, AP News (Oct. 19, 2026)
• Justice Department threatens California with legal action over claim of noncitizens on voter rolls by Safiyah Riddle and Eric Tucker, AP News (Oct. 14, 2026)
• Judge says federal law banning non-citizen voting is unconstitutional, by Jacob Rosen and Joe Walsh, CBS News (Oct. 2, 2026)
• The troubling takeaway when experts game out election threats by Aaron Tang, L.A. Times (July 6, 2026)

• First Amendment
• Criminal Case Tracker
• Criminalization of Voting

Reports and Publications

• Women Silenced at the Polls: How Criminal Convictions Deny the Right to Vote, by Kristen Budd and Vianney Gomez, The Sentencing Project (Sept. 2026)

Cases

• United States v. Chelsea Michelle Ann Cox, No. 25-CR-60249 (S.D. Fla.) challenging the constitutionality of the federal voting fraud statute, 18 USC § 611

Trainings

• Criminalization of Voting: Legal Challenges and Court Cases [Engage & Exchange] (Nov 2025)
• The Criminalization of Voting Rights: Front-End Community Engagement (Apr 2024)
• The Criminalization of Voting: Overview of Voter Prosecutions (Nov 2023)
• Defending Protesters Facing Criminal Charges (June 2017)

Articles from The Champion® magazine (restricted to NACDL members)

• Blair Bowie, Defending Against the Criminalization of Voting (November/December 2023)
• Ryan Garry, Criminalizing the Right to Vote (August 2024)
• Barry J. Pollack, From the President: Criminalizing the Tradition of Protest (April 2017)

Have questions or need additional assistance? Please contact us.

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