The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, April 5, 2024

By

Ethan Rice

Of the 251 bills with activity this week, 151 (60%) are 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

  • Twenty-nine bills have been approved since our last edition. One hundred-five bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 139 in 2023 and 78 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 251 bills this week, 15 fewer than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 55 (21.9%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 149 (59.4%) bills. Twenty-seven (10.8%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Twenty (8%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship. 
  • Sixty-one (24.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 151 (60.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 39 (15.5%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • One hundred thirty-six bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Twenty-four were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 11. Seventy-nine were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 58.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
    • Election types and contest-specific procedures (97)
    • Voter registration and list maintenance (30)
    • Election dates and deadlines (27)
    • Ballot access (25)
    • Offices (25)

Recent activity

Enacted bills

States approved 29 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 15 in 2023 and nine in 2022 during the same period. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

Arizona (divided government)

  • AZ SB1342: Elections; parties; hand count audits

Idaho (Republican trifecta)

  • ID H0521: Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to revise provisions regarding tax rates, school facilities funding, and school district bond and tax levy elections.
  • ID S1394: Amends and adds to existing law to revise provisions regarding voting machines, certain duties of election officials, and the payment of election expenses by counties and provides for public voting machine accuracy tests.
  • ID HJR005: Amends existing law to provide that individuals who are not citizens of the United States cannot vote in any election in the State of Idaho.
  • ID H0645: Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding school board recall elections, vacancies, and quorums.
  • ID H0561: Amends existing law to provide for a canvass report after votes are cast for elected offices.

Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

  • MA H4097: Increasing the membership of the select board of the town of Merrimac from 3 members to 5 members
  • MA H3959: Amending the charter of the city of Easthampton

Maine (Democratic trifecta)

  • ME LD2104: An Act to Amend the Charter of the Wiscasset Water District

Nebraska (Republican trifecta)

  • NE LB894: Change provisions relating to election, appointment, qualifications, and training of county sheriffs

Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

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

Utah (Republican trifecta)

Virginia (divided government)

  • VA HB1003: Precincts and polling places; notice of changes mailed at least 30 days prior to election.
  • VA HB943: Voter registration; protected voter status, elections officials.
  • VA SB109: Candidates; declaration of candidacy for primary.
  • VA HB1488: Local government; standardization of public notice requirements for certain meetings, hearings, etc.
  • VA HB441: Polling place; assistance for certain voters, clarifies definition of “person with a disability.”
  • VA HB69: Vacancies in elected local offices; interim appointments, notice requirement.
  • VA HB90: Candidates; declaration of candidacy for primary.
  • VA HB55: Primary elections; candidates for nomination, withdrawal of candidacy.
  • VA SB131: Primary elections; candidates for nomination, withdrawal of candidacy.

Washington (Democratic trifecta)

  • WA SB5890: Reducing ballot rejection rates through updates to ballot curing, canvassing, reporting, and outreach processes.

West Virginia (Republican trifecta)

  • WV HB4350: Relating to appointment of candidates after filing period
  • WV SB159: Prohibiting persons convicted of certain crimes against minors from holding positions on boards of education
  • WV HB5298: Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election

Bills that passed both chambers

Thirty-five 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.

Vetoed bills

One bill was vetoed since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, while two were vetoed in 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.

Virginia (divided government)

  • VA HB939: Elections administration; prohibits possession of a firearm within 100 feet of certain locations.

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 251 bills with activity this week, 61 (24.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 151 (60.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 39 (15.5%) 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 105 bills so far this year, compared to 139 bills in 2023 and 78 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Twenty-five of the election-related bills passed this year (23.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 68 (64.8%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 12 (11.4%) 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 3,416 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, 1007 (29.6%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 741 (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, 1,563 (45.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,261 (36.9%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 592 (17.3%) 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.