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, legislative activity, and updates on notable lawsuits and policy changes.
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Legislative highlights
- Three bills have been approved since our last edition. Seventeen bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 13 in 2023 and 22 in 2022.
- State legislatures acted on 258 bills this week, 146 fewer than last week.
- Democrats sponsored 75 (29.1%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 143 (55.4%) bills. Twenty-five (9.7%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Fifteen (5.8%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship.
- Sixty (23.3%) bills are in states with Democratic trifectas, 104 (40.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 94 (36.4%) are in states with a divided government.
- Eighty-three bills passed one or both chambers, or were enacted, this week. Fifteen were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 11. Twenty-six were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 20.
- The top bill topics this week were:
- Election types and contest-specific procedures (43)
- Voter registration and list maintenance (22)
- Ballot access (19)
- Election dates and deadlines (11)
- Ballots and voting materials (10)
- Election Day voting (10)
- Election officials and workers (10)
Recent activity
Enacted bills
States approved three election-related bills since our last edition, compared to six in 2023 and four in 2022 during the same period. To see all enacted bills, click here.
Georgia (Republican trifecta)
- GA HB1095: Baldwin County; board of elections and registration; create
- GA HB1094: Baldwin County; board of commissioners; provide staggered terms
Wisconsin (divided government)
- WI SB488: Legislative redistricting.
Bills that passed both chambers
Two bills passed both chambers since our last edition and are awaiting gubernatorial action. To see all bills that have currently passed both chambers, click here.
Utah (Republican trifecta)
- UT SB0107: Election Process Amendments
Wisconsin (divided government)
- WI AB330: The number of signatures on nomination papers.
Vetoed bills
There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023 or 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 258 bills with activity this week, 60 (23.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 104 (40.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 94 (36.4%) 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 17 bills so far this year, compared to 13 bills in 2023 and 22 bills in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
Six of the election-related bills passed this year (35.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, eight (47.1%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and three (17.6%) 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 2,988 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, 928 (30.7%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 619 (20.5%) 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, 1,415 (47.4%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,014 (33.9%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 558 (18.7%) 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.
