Democrats sponsored 64 (71.1%) of the bills active over the past 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
- Two bills have been approved since our last edition. Two hundred ninety-six bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 460 in 2023 and 170 in 2022.
- State legislatures acted on 90 bills this week, 30 fewer than last week.
- Democrats sponsored 64 (71.1%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 13 (14.4%) bills. Twelve (13.3%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. One (1.1%) bill had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship.
- Eighty (88.9%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, five (5.6%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and five (5.6%) are in states with a divided government.
- Seventy-four bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Forty-eight were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 40. Two were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored one.
- The top bill topics this week were:
- Election types and contest-specific procedures (75)
- Election dates and deadlines (12)
- Absentee/mail-in voting (9)
- Audits and oversight (8)
- Offices (8)
Recent activity
Enacted bills
States approved two election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 58 in 2023 and five in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here.
Colorado (Democratic trifecta)
- CO SB210: Modifications to Laws Regarding Elections
Illinois (Democratic trifecta)
- IL SB0251: An act concerning appropriations.
Bills that passed both chambers
Four 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.
Illinois (Democratic trifecta)
- IL HB3144: DCEO-CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Louisiana (Republican trifecta)
- LA HB782: Makes supplemental appropriations for Fiscal Year 2023-2024
Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)
- RI H7328: Includes the general assembly elections within the category of elections subject to the risk-limiting audits within the jurisdiction of the board of elections.
- RI S2458: Includes the general assembly elections within the category of elections subject to the risk-limiting audits within the jurisdiction of the board of elections.
Vetoed bills
There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and one was vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 30 bills so far this year, compared to 21 at this point in 2023 and 13 at this point 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 90 bills with activity this week, 80 (88.9%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, five (5.6%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and five (5.6%) 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 296 bills so far this year, compared to 460 bills in 2023 and 170 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
Fifty-three of the election-related bills passed this year (17.9%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 195 (65.9%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 48 (16.2%) 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 3,735 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, 1,138 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 796 (21%) 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, 1,747 (46.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,355 (36.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 633 (16.9%) 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.
