The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, June 21, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

States approved 19 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 46 in 2023 and 10 in 2022 during the same week.

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.

In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover 70 bills acted on by state legislatures this week.

Every year, state lawmakers consider thousands of bills that would change how Americans vote and how elections are administered. Keep an eye out for Ballotpedia’s State of Election Administration 2024 Mid-Year Report, available July 1, which provides insights, analysis, and takeaways from the more than 3,735 election-related bills we tracked this year. 

Legislative highlights

  • Nineteen bills have been approved since our last edition. Three hundred sixteen bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 506 in 2023 and 180 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 70 bills this week, 20 fewer than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 42 (60%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 17 (24.3%) bills. Eleven (15.7%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. 
  • Fifty-three (75.7%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, eight (11.4%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and nine (12.9%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • Seventy-four bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Thirty-four were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 26. Seven were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored five.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
  1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (31)
  2. Ballot access (12)
  3. Enforcement and election fraud (5)
  4. Offices (5)
  5. Redistricting (5)

Recent activity

Enacted bills

States approved 19 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 46 in 2023 and 10 in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

Arizona (divided government)

  • AZ SCR1041: Ballot measures; challenges
    • This legislatively referred constitution amendment would allow a person to contest the constitutionality of a ballot measure in a superior court at least 100 days before an election. If a court finds that the measure violates the U.S. or Arizona Constitution, it will not be printed on the official ballot. Appeals can be made to the state supreme court within five days of the superior court’s judgment.
  • AZ SCR1044: Judicial retention elections

Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

  • LA SB261: Provides for additional poll watchers at polling places for elections. (8/1/24) (EN +$67,150 GF EX See Note)
  • LA HB220: Provides for publication of polling locations (EN INCREASE LF EX See Note)
  • LA HB114: Provides for an expanded annual canvass of registered voters (EN +$336,108 GF EX See Note)
  • LA HB763: Provides relative to federal election guidance and funding
  • LA SB436: Provides relative to voter registration. (1/1/25)
  • LA HB873: Provides relative to elections (EN INCREASE GF EX See Note)
  • LA HB358: Creates an additional judgeship for the 23rd Judicial District Court (EN +$462,884 EX See Note)
  • LA SB384: Provides relative to voter identification requirements. (7/1/25)

Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

  • MA S2500: Authorizing the town moderator of the town of Monson to act as an election officer in certain elections

Oklahoma (Republican trifecta)

  • OK SB2038: Multiple versions of statutes; amending, merging, consolidating and repealing multiple versions of statutes. Emergency.

Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)

  • RI S2778: Eliminates requirement of signing with an “X” for voters who cannot sign their name due to blindness, disability, or inability to read/write and establishes a timeframe for local boards to accept mail ballot applications delivered via the postal service.
  • RI S3058: Amends various sections of law relating to elections, nomination papers and the process of obtaining signatures for nomination papers and would provide a notification procedure for the reporting of consistent patterns of forgery on nomination papers.
  • RI H8324: JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR A BI-PARTISAN PREPARATORY COMMISSION TO ASSEMBLE INFORMATION ON CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS IN PREPARATION FOR A VOTE BY THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS ON THE HOLDING OF A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE XIV SECTION 2 OF THE RHODE ISLAND CONSTITUTION 
  • RI S3136: JOINT RESOLUTION TO SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING QUESTION TO THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF THE STATE AT THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION IN 2024: “SHALL THERE BE A CONVENTION TO AMEND OR REVISE THE CONSTITUTION?” (This resolution would provide for the presentation of the following question at the next general election “Shall there be a convention to amend or revise the Constitution?”)
  • RI S3147: JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR A BI-PARTISAN PREPARATORY COMMISSION TO ASSEMBLE INFORMATION ON CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS IN PREPARATION FOR A VOTE BY THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS ON THE HOLDING OF A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE XIV SECTION 2 OF THE RHODE ISLAND CONSTITUTION 
  • RI H7664: Amends various sections of law relating to elections, nomination papers and the process of obtaining signatures for nomination papers and would provide a notification procedure for the reporting of consistent patterns of forgery on nomination papers.
  • RI H7756: Eliminates requirements of signing with an “X” for voters who cannot sign name due to blindness, disability, or inability to read or write. Establishes a timeframe for local boards to accept mail ballot applications, if delivered via the postal service.

Bills that passed both chambers

Eight 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.

Delaware (Democratic trifecta)

  • DE SB243: An Act To Amend The Charter Of The Village Of Ardencroft.

Michigan (Democratic trifecta)

  • MI SB0604: Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for certain Michigan election law violations dealing with recounts; modify. Amends sec. 11d, ch. XVII of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 777.11d). TIE BAR WITH: SB 0603’23
  • MI SB0603: Elections: recounts; recount filing fees; modify, and modify recount process Amends secs. 2, 822, 825, 827, 828, 842, 861, 862, 863, 865, 866, 867, 868, 869, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, 876, 878, 879, 880, 880a, 881, 882, 883, 884, 887, 888, 889, 890 & 892 of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.2 et seq.); adds secs. 861a & 883a & repeals secs. 871a, 877, 885, 886 & 891 of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.871a et seq.).

New Hampshire (Republican trifecta)

  • NH HB1264: Relative to the definition of accessible voting systems.
  • NH SB576: Relative to reporting the death of voters.
  • NH SB489: Relative to election audits.

Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)

  • RI H8304: Changes the meeting of presidential electors from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election to the first Tuesday.
  • RI S3059: Changes the meeting of presidential electors from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election to the first Tuesday.

Vetoed bills

There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. Fifteen bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and two were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 3 bills so far this year, compared to 34 at this point in 2023 and 15 at this point in 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 90 bills with activity this week, 53 (75.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, eight (11.4%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and nine (12.9%) 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 316 bills so far this year, compared to 506 bills in 2023 and 180 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Sixty-two of the election-related bills passed this year (19.6%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 204 (64.6%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 50 (15.8%) 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 3,735 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, 1,138 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 796 (21%) 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, 1,747 (46.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,355 (36.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 633 (16.9%) 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.