The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, April 19, 2024

By

Ethan Rice

The most active bill topic this week was voter registration and list maintenance, with states acting on 63 bills in this category.

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

  • Fourteen bills have been approved since our last edition. One hundred forty-five bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 182 in 2023 and 102 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 253 bills this week, 21 more than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 117 (46.2%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 98 (38.7%) bills. Twenty-nine (11.5%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Nine (3.6%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship. 
  • One hundred eight (42.7%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 78 (30.8%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 67 (26.5%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • Sixty-two bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Thirteen were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 10. Forty-four were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 35.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
    • Voter registration and list maintenance (63)
    • Election types and contest-specific procedures (48)
    • Absentee/mail-in voting (45)
    • Audits and oversight (35)
    • Election dates and deadlines (32)

    Recent activity

    Enacted bills

    States approved 14 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 26 in 2023 and eight in 2022 during the same period. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

    Arizona (divided government)

    • AZ HB2080: Elections; municipal vacancies; primary
    • AZ HB2497: Judicial offices; petitions; electronic signatures
    • AZ HB2474: New party recognition; signatures; circulators

    Florida (Republican trifecta)

    • FL H0135: Voter Registration Applications
    • FL S1114: Public Financing for Campaigns of Candidates for Elective Statewide Office

    Idaho (Republican trifecta)

    • ID H0599: Adds to existing law to prohibit ballot harvesting, to provide certain exceptions, and to establish penalties for violations.
    • ID S1260: Amends existing law to provide that no election needs to be held for unopposed offices in cities with a population under 100,000.

    Kentucky (divided government)

    • KY HB53: AN ACT relating to elections and making an appropriation therefore.

    Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

    • MA H3575: Providing for recall elections in the town of Conway

    Mississippi (Republican trifecta)

    • MS SB2576: Voter ID; clarify what constitutes a valid voter ID.

    Nebraska (Republican trifecta)

    • NE LB20: Provide for restoration of voting rights upon completion of a felony sentence or probation for a felony
    • NE LB287: Eliminate obsolete provisions relating to the 2020 federal decennial census and provide, change, and eliminate provisions relating to petitions, proof of publication, conflicts of interest, voter registration and voting as prescribed in the Election Act, and notice and virtual conferencing requirements under the Open Meetings Act, and eliminate powers and duties of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State

    Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

    • TN SB2118: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 6, relative to elections.
    • TN HB2293: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, Chapter 6, relative to elections.

    Bills that passed both chambers

    Twelve 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.

    Colorado (Democratic trifecta)

    Kentucky (divided government)

    • KY HB449: AN ACT relating to local boards of education.
    • KY HB580: AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.
    • KY HB779: AN ACT relating to digital precinct boundary requirements.

    Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

    • MA S2544: Relative to polling locations in the city of Gloucester
    • MA H3575: Providing for recall elections in the town of Conway

    Mississippi (Republican trifecta)

    • MS HB922: Election commissioner; revise office to be nonpartisan.

    Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

    • TN HB0835: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-2-106 and Section 2-2-141, relative to election integrity.
    • TN SB2587: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2 and Title 5, relative to voting equipment.
    • TN HB1794: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act.
    • 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 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.

    Vetoed bills

    Governors vetoed three bills since our last edition. One bill was vetoed during this period in 2023, and one was vetoed in 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.

    Arizona (Republican trifecta)

    • AZ HB2404: Voter registration cards; mailing limitation
    • AZ HB2612: Ballot collection conviction; public office
    • AZ HB2393: Presidential preference; parties; voting methods

    Veto overrides

    State legislators have overridden gubernatorial vetoes of three bills since our last edition. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a gubernatorial or presidential veto. Click here to see all veto overrides this year. 

    On April 12, the Kentucky General Assembly overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s (D) veto of three election-related bills. Kentucky has a divided government in which the governor is a Democrat while both legislative chambers have Republican majorities. Kentucky state law requires a majority vote from both chambers of the legislature to override a gubernatorial veto.

    Kentucky (divided government)

    • KY HB44: AN ACT relating to elections.  
    • KY HB388: AN ACT relating to local government and declaring an emergency.
    • KY HB622: AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.

    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 253 bills with activity this week, 108 (42.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 78 (30.8%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 67 (26.5%) 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 145 bills so far this year, compared to 182 bills in 2023 and 102 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

    Twenty-nine of the election-related bills passed this year (20%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 82 (56.6%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 34 (23.4%) 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 3,479 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, 1030 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 750 (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, 1,604 (46.1%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,277 (36.7%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 598 (17.2%) 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.