The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, March 22, 2024

By

Ethan Rice

Thirteen of the 16 bills enacted this week were in states with Republican trifectas.

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.

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Legislative highlights

  • Sixteen bills have been approved since our last edition. Fifty bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 84 in 2023 and 60 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 304 bills, 129 fewer than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 110 (36.2%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 140 (46.1%) bills. Thirty-three (10.9%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Twenty-one (6.9%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship. 
  • One hundred twenty-nine (42.4%) bills are in states with Democratic trifectas, 136 (44.7%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 39 (12.8%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • One hundred thirty-six bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Forty-two were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 30. Sixty-three were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 41.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
    • Election types and contest-specific procedures (65)
    • Absentee/mail-in voting (28)
    • Ballot access (20)
    • Voter registration and list maintenance (20)
    • Election Day voting (15)
    • Enforcement and election fraud (15)

Recent activity

Enacted bills

States approved 16 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 30 in 2023 and nine in 2022 during the same period. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

Idaho (Republican trifecta)

  • ID S1316: Amends existing law to revise the number of registered electors required for a cemetery maintenance district to have commissioners elected at large.
  • ID H0661: Amends existing law to revise candidate filing deadlines for independent candidates for president and vice president.

Indiana (Republican trifecta)

Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

  • TN SB1967: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 6, relative to absentee voting.
  • TN HB2294: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 6, relative to absentee voting.
  • TN HB1649: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 3, Part 1, relative to elections.
  • TN HB1897: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to election officials.

Utah (Republican trifecta)

Washington (Democratic trifecta)

  • WA SB6269: Establishing an alternative voter verification options pilot project.
  • WA HB1272: Concerning publishing, formatting, and distribution of the state and local voters’ pamphlets.
  • WA SB5843: Concerning security breaches of election systems and election-related systems.

West Virginia (Republican trifecta) 

  • WV SB837: Reorganizing offices of Public Defender Corporations to conform to circuit reconfiguration

Bills that passed both chambers

Fifteen 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.

Alabama (Republican trifecta)

  • AL SB1: Absentee voting; prohibit assistance in preparation of; exceptions provided

Colorado (Democratic trifecta)

  • CO HB1067: Ballot Access for Candidates with Disabilities

Florida (Republican trifecta)

Georgia (Republican trifecta)

  • GA SB468: Baldwin County; staggered terms for the board of commissioners; provide

Kentucky (divided government)

  • KY SB143: AN ACT proposing to amend Sections 145 and 155 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to persons entitled to vote.

Maine (Democratic trifecta)

  • ME LD1578: An Act to Adopt an Interstate Compact to Elect the President of the United States by National Popular Vote

Nebraska (Republican trifecta)

  • NE LB894: Change provisions relating to county sheriffs and allow individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status to receive law enforcement officer training and certification and participation in retirement programs as prescribed

South Carolina (Republican trifecta)

  • SC H5168: Kershaw County School District, reapportioned
  • SC H5153: Anderson County School District 2

Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

  • TN SB1838: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 16, Chapter 2, relative to judicial districts.

Utah (Republican trifecta)

  • UT SB0258: Municipal Incorporation Amendments

Wisconsin (divided government)

  • WI AB330: The number of signatures on nomination papers.
  • WI SB736: Postelection audits by the Legislative Audit Bureau and providing a penalty. (FE)
  • WI AB570: Certain kinds of election fraud, defects on absentee ballot certificates, returning absentee ballots to the office of the municipal clerk, appointment of election officials, allowing an employee of a residential care facility or qualified retirement home to serve as a personal care voting assistant during a public health emergency or an incident of infectious disease, and providing a penalty. (FE)
  • WI AB572: Absentee voting in certain residential care facilities and retirement homes and court determinations of incompetency and ineligibility to vote.

Vetoed bills

No bills have been vetoed since our last edition. One bill was vetoed during this period in 2023, and no bills were vetoed 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 304 bills with activity this week, 129 (42.4%) bills are in states with Democratic trifectas, 136 (44.7%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 39 (12.8%) 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 50 bills so far this year, compared to 84 bills in 2023 and 60 bills in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Fifteen of the election-related bills passed this year (30%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 31 (62%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and four (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 3,365 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, 997 (29.6%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 726 (21.6%) 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, 1,541 (45.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,233 (36.6%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 591 (17.6%) 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.