In 2020, the presidential election garnered the highest voter turnout in the 21st century, with an increase in ballots from 2016 to 2020 that totaled 17 million. Additionally, 69% of voters in 2020 used nontraditional voting methods, such as mail-in and early voting. With the outcome of the 2024 presidential election looming, the accessibility of nontraditional voting methods, specifically absentee ballots, is in danger as legislators and political groups seek to restrict these methods operating under the pretense of protecting election security, removing errors and delays, and the claimed “illegality” of these methods. Conservatives in states like Missouri and Pennsylvania have led legal challenges to limit widespread access to absentee ballots as statistics show Democrats are more likely to vote by mail. Recent state-level cases reveal attempts to suppress absentee ballot access, a development facilitated by the Supreme Court’s unsubstantiated ruling in Shelby County v. Holder (2013). The holding in this case disproportionately affects marginalized communities in the form of stricter ID requirements and more stringent mail-in conditions, especially in areas with historically low voter turnout.

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 In June 2022, the United States Supreme Court decided on the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, ruling the United States Constitution does not guarantee women the right to an abortion. This landmark holding overturned decades worth of precedent set by Roe v. Wade (1973). Citing the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, the court in Roe recognized a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy with different standards of availability depending on the trimester. The Court decided Dobbs with a six-to-three vote, six conservative justices in the majority and the remaining three justices fervently dissenting. The decision returned the question of abortion accessibility to the states. 

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