The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, May 10, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

State legislatures acted on 167 bills this week, 58 more than last week. 

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-one bills have been approved since our last edition. Two hundred one bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 295 in 2023 and 114 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 167 bills this week, 58 more than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 72 (43.1%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 73 (43.7%) bills. Twenty-one (12.6%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. One (0.6%) bill had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship. 
  • Eighty-four (50.3%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 80 (47.9%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and three (1.8%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • Eighty-seven bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Twenty-three were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 15. Sixty-one were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 48.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
    1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (33)
    2. Audits and oversight (11)
    3. Voter registration and list maintenance (11)
    4. Election dates and deadlines (10)
    5. Election Day voting (9)

    Recent activity

    Enacted bills

    States approved 21 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 13 in 2023 and three in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

    Alabama (Republican trifecta)

    • AL SB324: Elections; revise dates for submissions to qualify on ballot
    • AL HB109: Houston Co., judge of probate, age to qualify for election or appointment increased to age 75, constitutional amendment

    Connecticut (Democrat trifecta)

    • CT SB00257: An Act Concerning Certification Of And Casting Of Ballots By Presidential Electors.

    Georgia (Republican trifecta)

    • GA HB1372: Pine Mountain, Town of; provide new charter
    • GA HB1236: Douglas County; State Court; add third judge
    • GA HB1229: Dalton, City of; provide new charter
    • GA HB1466: Paulding County; State Court; provide additional judge
    • GA HB1135: Dexter, Town of; provide new charter
    • GA HB906: Tifton Judicial Circuit; provide for a third judge

    Hawaii (Democratic trifecta)

    • HI HB1879: Relating To The Digital Voter Information Guide.

    Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

    • LA SB255: Provides relative to the districts of the supreme court. 

    Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

    • MA S2501: Relative to the date set by the charter of the town of Walpole for the annual town election

    Mississippi (Republican trifecta)

    • MS HB1135: Election day disputes; require list of judges selected to hear to be provided to certain officials.

    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 SB2524: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to voting.
    • TN SB2855: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 16, Chapter 2, relative to judicial districts.
    • TN SB1723: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act.
    • TN HB2391: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to voting.
    • TN SB2586: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to voter registration.
    • TN SB0145: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2; Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8, relative to elections.
    • TN HB1794: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act.
    • TN SB1706: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to county election commissions.

    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.

    Alabama (Republican trifecta)

    • AL HB100: Establishing penalties for crimes against election officials
    • AL SB163: Mobile County; firefighting and emergency medical districts, board of trustees fills vacancies

    Colorado (Democratic trifecta)

    • CO SB131: Prohibiting Carrying Firearms in Sensitive Spaces

    Hawaii (Democratic trifecta)

    • HI SB2333: Relating To Election Audits.
    • HI SB2240: Relating To Elections.
    • HI HB1916: Relating To The Disclosure Of Personal Information Associated With Certain Public Servants.
    • HI SB2687: Relating To Elections.

    Mississippi (Republican trifecta)

    • MS HB1406: Absentee voting; revise various provisions of.
    • MS SB2144: Runoff elections; amend to lengthen the timing requirement.
    • MS SB2232: Newton Municipal School District; require election of board of trustees by population of the school district.

    South Carolina (Republican trifecta)

    • SC S0971: Barnwell County voting precincts

    Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

    • TN HB2998: AN ACT to amend Chapter 553 of the Acts of 1903; as amended by Chapter 395 of the Acts of 1905; Chapter 405 of the Acts of 1907; Chapter 468 of the Private Acts of 1917; Chapter 200 of the Private Acts of 1919; Chapter 105 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 460 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 700 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 334 of the Private Acts of 1943; Chapter 252 of the Private Acts of 1951; Chapter 513 of the Private Acts of 1951; Chapter 376 of the Private Acts of 1955

    Vetoed bills

    Governors have not vetoed any bills since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 24 bills so far this year, compared to nine at this point in both 2023 and 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 167 bills with activity this week, 84 (50.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 80 (47.9%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and three (1.8%) 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 201 bills so far this year, compared to 295 bills in 2023 and 114 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

    Forty-one of the election-related bills passed this year (20.4%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 115 (57.2%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 45 (22.4%) 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 3,532 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, 1041 (29%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 772 (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, 1,618 (46.1%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,308 (36.8%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 606 (17.1%) 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.