Welcome to the Tuesday, April 30, 2024, Brew.
By: Ethan Rice
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- States enact fewer election-related bills this year than last, more than in 2022
- A closer look at the May 7 Republican primary for Indiana’s 8th Congressional District
- Milwaukee judge rules in favor of city’s body camera video release policy
States enact fewer election-related bills this year than last, more than in 2022
Since the start of 2024, legislators have considered nearly 3,500 election-related bills, and 31 states have adopted 175 new election-related laws. At this point in 2023, 207 bills were approved in 33 states. By this time in 2022, 102 bills were approved in 31 states.
Lawmakers have enacted 113 new election bills since our March 26 report as the calendar progresses to the heart of many states’ legislative sessions. States with Republican trifectas are adopting new election laws at a nearly 3-to-1 pace compared to states with Democratic trifectas. Lawmakers in 14 states with Republican trifectas have enacted 94 election-related bills. Twelve states with Democratic trifectas have approved 35. Five states with divided governments have adopted 46 new laws.
The data in our report comes from our free Election Administration Legislation Tracker, which allows users to follow election administration bills in all 50 states through every step of the legislative process.
Figures in this report are current through April 26. Click here for coverage of our last report in the Brew on March 27.
Here are some of the key findings in this most recent report:
- Thirty-five of the election-related bills passed this year (20.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 94 (55.1%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 43 (24.7%) are in states with a divided government.
- Seventy-seven other election bills have passed two legislative chambers and await a governor’s action. Most of these bills (52) are in states with Republican trifectas.
Last year, Republican trifecta states passed 142 bills in the same period, Democratic trifecta states passed 34, and states with divided governments passed 31. In 2022, Republican trifecta states had passed 52, while states with Democratic trifectas and divided governments passed 25 bills each. The table below shows the number of enacted election-related bills introduced by trifecta status this year compared to 2023 and 2022.
Of the 175 approved bills, Democrats sponsored 30, and Republicans sponsored 87. Thirty-five bills had bipartisan sponsorship, and the remaining twenty-three were introduced without partisan sponsorship. More Republican-sponsored bills were also enacted in 2023 and 2022.
Overview of introduced legislation
In total, 2,865 election-related bills are active in state legislatures, including bills that have reached a final status other than “Dead.” More than half of these bills are in states with Democratic trifectas. Republican trifecta states have adopted more than twice the number of new election laws compared to states with Democratic trifectas or divided governments.
The most common topics among active bills are municipal election procedures (298), followed by voter registration (273 bills), ballot access for candidates (221), and in-person voting and polling places (195). To learn more about Ballotpedia’s election-related legislation topic categories, see here.
What’s moving and where?
Seventy-seven other election bills have passed two legislative chambers and await a governor’s action. Most of these bills (52) are in states with Republican trifectas. Another 277 bills have passed one legislative chamber.
Topics of note
Ballotpedia pays close attention to several noteworthy topics, including legislation related to ranked-choice voting (RCV), the private funding of election administration, and signature verification laws.
- RCV: Bills to ban the use of RCV continue to progress in Republican-controlled legislatures. Kentucky became the sixth state to ban RCV after the Republican-controlled legislature overrode a veto of HB44. Oklahoma is poised to follow suit as HB3156, which prohibits RCV in the state, awaits Gov. Kevin Sitt’s (R) signature. Bills prohibiting RCV have passed one chamber in six other states; all but one of them have Republican trifectas.
- Private funding: Three states that already prohibit using private funding for election administration have advanced bills adding restrictions to their existing bans: Arizona, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
- Signature verification: Three states, Arizona, Indiana, and Washington, have enacted four new laws establishing or adding to signature verification procedures for ballots.
A closer look at the May 7 Republican primary for Indiana’s 8th Congressional District
Throughout the year, we’ll bring you coverage of the most compelling elections — the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.
Today, we’re looking at the May 7 Republican primary for Indiana’s 8th Congressional District. Eight candidates are running in the primary. Four lead in media attention: John Hostettler (R), Dominick Kavanaugh (R), Mark Messmer (R), and Kristi Risk (R).
Incumbent Larry Bucshon (R), who was first elected in 2016, is not running for re-election. This is the first open race in the district since 2016. Indiana attorney and informal adviser to Bucshon’s early campaigns Josh Claybourn told Courier & Press he believes there will be a geographic divide among support for the candidates: “Risk will have some support near Terre Haute. Messmer will have a nice base of support in his existing Senate [district]. And then, starting out, Hostettler will be able to be competitive districtwide.”
Hostettler represented the 8th Congressional District from 1995 to 2007. In the 2006 general election, then-Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ellsworth (D) defeated Hostettler 61% to 39%. Hostettler said he sees parallels between the status of the U.S. now and when he was first elected to Congress. “We have a Democrat president embroiling us in a military conflict in Eastern Europe that presents absolutely no national security interest of the United States,” said Hostettler.
Kavanaugh is a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve and worked in former President Donald Trump’s (R) White House in the Office of Press and Communications. Kavanaugh said he “is running for Congress in Indiana’s 8th Congressional District to bring a fresh perspective from the next generation of Hoosier leaders.”
Messmer is a member of the Indiana Senate and a business owner. Messmer said his legislative experience would help him successfully fight for the district in Congress: “The process is the same. The process is still networking and relationship-building with the people that I’ll be working with in the House and Senate.”
Risk chairs the Owen County Republican Party and is a business owner. In 2012, Risk ran against Bucshon in the Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District. Bucshon defeated Risk 58% to 42%. Risk said one way she would fight for constituents in the 8th district would be to build a caucus with Republican members of the Indiana delegation.
As of March 26, 2024, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rated the general election Solid Republican. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated the general election Safe Republican.
Also running in the primary are Jim Case (R), Jeremy Heath (R), Luke Misner (R), and Richard Moss (R).
Milwaukee judge rules in favor of city’s body camera video release policy
As part of its coverage of police collective bargaining agreement (CBA) policies, Ballotpedia’s Police Collective Bargaining Agreements Dashboard features information on CBAs in the 50 states and the 100 most populous cities in the U.S. The data is organized through more than 30 questions on topics ranging from police union authority and training to discipline and accountability.
Ballotpedia’s criminal justice policy coverage allows readers to examine the key concepts, arguments, and reform proposals driving the criminal justice policy landscape.
In this month’s edition of Bargaining in Blue, we covered a court ruling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the city’s body camera video release policy. On March 29, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Brittany C. Grayson upheld a body camera video release policy the city implemented in 2023. The Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) challenged the policy, arguing that it violated collective bargaining rules and state law.
Milwaukee implemented Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 575 in April 2023, establishing procedures for releasing body-worn camera footage to families and the public. The policy, in part, requires law enforcement to release body-worn camera footage to families within 48 hours and the public within 15 days following critical incidents. The MPA filed a motion for preliminary injunction in April 2023, arguing that the city unlawfully approved SOP 575 outside the collective bargaining process.
Grayson, whom Gov. Tony Evers (D) appointed in 2019, ruled that the video release policy would remain in effect because the union did not properly establish its claim that the policy violated collective bargaining rules. Grayson said collective bargaining procedures would only apply if the policy were “primarily related to wages, hours, and conditions of employment.”
Grayson denied the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit and scheduled the case for a status conference on May 16. The MPA announced it would present additional evidence to the court at that time. MPA President Andrew Wanger said, “Releasing body camera footage before investigations have reached their logical conclusion is both short-sighted and will actually have a negative impact on the transparency the community seeks in these incidents.”
Click here for more analysis of police hiring, training, and disciplinary requirements by state and city.