The Ballot Bulletin, May 3, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

States approved 17 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 76 in 2023 and 18 in 2022 during the same period.

Welcome to The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration. Every Friday, we deliver the latest updates on election policy around the country, including nationwide trends and recent legislative activity.

We want to hear from you! Click here to take a short survey letting us know what you like about The Ballot Bulletin and how we can improve our coverage of election-related legislation. 

Legislative highlights

  • Seventeen bills have been approved since our last edition. One hundred seventy-six bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 282 in 2023 and 111 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 109 bills this week, 29 fewer than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 37 (33.9%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 43 (39.4%) bills. Twelve (11%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Seventeen (15.6%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship. 
  • Forty-two (38.5%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 57 (52.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 10 (9.2%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • Sixty-three bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Seventeen were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 13. Forty-four were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 32.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
  1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (31)
  2. Election dates and deadlines (15)
  3. Absentee/mail-in voting (11)
  4. Ballot access (11)
  5. Audits and oversight (6)

Recent activity

Enacted bills

States approved 17 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 76 in 2023 and 18 in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

Alabama (Republican trifecta)

  • AL SB141: St. Clair County, specifying qualified electors for county superintendent and board of education and changing Pell City Board of Education from an elected to appointed board and specifying residential qualifications for members of city board local constitutional amendment

Maryland (Democratic trifecta)

  • MD HB471: Election Law – Post-election Procedures
  • MD HB371: Election Law – Recounts – Procedures
  • MD HB333: Election Law – Election Disinformation and Improper Influence Related to Voting
  • MD SB852: Washington County Board of Education – Members – Residency Requirement
  • MD HB995: Washington County Board of Education – Members – Residency Requirement

Mississippi (Republican trifecta)

  • MS HB1035: Justice court judges; include in the “Nonpartisan Judicial Election Act.”

Ohio (Republican trifecta)

  • OH HB101: Modify the law regarding village dissolution

Oklahoma (Republican trifecta)

  • OK HB3156: Elections; prohibiting the use of ranked choice voting; defining terms; authorizing certain entities to bring civil action; effective date.

Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

  • TN HB2994: AN ACT to amend Chapter 320 of the Acts of 1901; as amended by Chapter 163 of the Private Acts of 1984 and Chapter 152 of the Private Acts of 2002; and any other acts amendatory thereto, relative to the Town of Viola.
  • TN HB2989: AN ACT to amend Chapter 62 of the Private Acts of 1981; as amended by Chapter 181 of the Private Acts of 1981; Chapter 107 of the Private Acts of 1987; and any other acts amendatory thereto, relative to the Gibson County Special School District Board of Trustees.
  • TN SB2587: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2 and Title 5, relative to voting equipment.

West Virginia (Republican trifecta)

  • WV SB837: Reorganizing offices of Public Defender Corporations to conform to circuit reconfiguration
  • WV SB542: Amending procedure for filling vacancies in certain county offices having more than three commissioners
  • WV SB624: Canceling voter registration records for individuals no longer WV residents
  • WV SB623: Requiring DMV to provide images of certain individuals to Secretary of State for voter identification purposes
  • WV HB4552: To ensure party affiliation is consistent with candidate’s voter registration

Bills that passed both chambers

Six bills have passed both chambers since our last edition and await gubernatorial action. To see all bills that have currently passed both chambers, click here.

Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

  • LA SB255: Provides relative to the districts of the supreme court. 
  • LA HB151: Provides for the membership of the board of commissioners of the North Lafourche Conservation, Levee and Drainage District

Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

  • MA S2501: Relative to the date set by the charter of the town of Walpole for the annual town election

Mississippi (Republican trifecta)

  • MS HB1135: Election day disputes; require list of judges selected to hear to be provided to certain officials.

Pennsylvania (divided government)

  • PA SB945: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.

Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

  • TN HB2998: AN ACT to amend Chapter 553 of the Acts of 1903; as amended by Chapter 395 of the Acts of 1905; Chapter 405 of the Acts of 1907; Chapter 468 of the Private Acts of 1917; Chapter 200 of the Private Acts of 1919; Chapter 105 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 460 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 700 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 334 of the Private Acts of 1943; Chapter 252 of the Private Acts of 1951; Chapter 513 of the Private Acts of 1951; Chapter 376 of the Private Acts of 1955

Vetoed bills

Governors did not veto any bills since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 24 bills so far this year, compared to nine at this point in both 2023 and 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.

Recent activity by topic and sponsorship

The chart below shows the topics and partisan sponsorship of the bills with legislative activity since our last edition. Click here to see a full list of bill categories and their definitions.

* Note: Contest-specific procedures refer to primary systems, municipal election procedures, recall elections, special election procedures, and other systems unique to a particular election type. 

Recent activity by state and trifecta status

Of the 109 bills with activity this week, 42 (38.5%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 57 (52.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 10 (9.2%) are in states with a divided government. 

The map below shows election-related bills acted on in the past week by state trifecta status.

All legislation

Enacted bills by sponsorship and trifecta status

States have enacted 176 bills so far this year, compared to 282 bills in 2023 and 111 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Thirty-nine of the election-related bills passed this year (22.2%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 97 (55.1%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 40 (22.7%) are in states with a divided government. The table below shows the number of enacted election-related bills introduced by trifecta status this year compared to 2023 and 2022.

All bills by topic and sponsorship

The chart below displays the topic and sponsorship of a sample of the 3,512 total bills we’ve followed this year. Note that the sums of the numbers listed do not equal the total number of bills because some bills deal with multiple topics.  

All bills by sponsorship and trifecta status

Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1040 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 761 (22%) bills in states with Republican trifectas.

The chart below shows the percentage of all election-related bills by sponsorship and trifecta status.

All bills by state and trifecta status

Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,620 (46.1%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,292 (36.8%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 600 (17.1%) are in states with divided governments. 

Of all active bills in 2023, 42% were in states with Democratic trifectas, 43.8% were in states with Republican trifectas, and 14.2% were in states with divided governments. In 2022, 37.8% of bills were in states with Democratic trifectas, 30.4% were in states with Republican trifectas, and 31.8% were in states with divided governments.

The map below shows the number of election-related bills introduced by state and trifecta status this year.