The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, September 27, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

Governors have vetoed 34 bills so far this year, compared to 37 at this point in 2023 and 17 at this point in 2022.

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. 

In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover thirteen bills that advanced since our last edition.

Legislative highlights

  • Nine bills were approved last week. Three hundred eighty-one bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 603 in 2023 and 229 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 13 bills this week, three more than last week. 
  • The top bill topics this week were:
  1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (9)
  2. Audits and oversight (4)
  3. Election dates and deadlines (4)
  4. Counting and certification (3)
  5. Redistricting (3)

In the news

Here’s a rundown of recent news stories and developments from across the country on election administration.

  • The North Carolina State Board of Elections announced on Sept. 26 that local election boards have removed more than 747,000 ineligible voters from the state’s voter rolls during the past year. 
  • The Georgia chapter of the NAACP and another group filed a federal lawsuit challenging provisions of SB 189, which was signed into law earlier this year. The provisions in question allow people to challenge the eligibility of voters registered at nonresidential addresses and require homeless people to receive election-related mail at the county’s election office. 
  • On Sept. 25, Georgia Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes (D) and other Democrats filed a lawsuit against three Republican members of the Georgia State Elections Board. The lawsuit asks Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to begin proceedings to remove the members. Plaintiffs allege the three members voted to approve new election rules that would allow local officials to unilaterally refuse to certify election results and delay certification. 
  • Two Arkansas voters filed a lawsuit against Crittenden County and the Crittenden County Board of Election Commissioners on Sept. 25. The lawsuit alleges that the board’s recent decision to move an early voting site resulted in insufficient access to early voting in the area. 
  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed nine election-related bills into law on Sept. 22 and 24, and vetoed two other bills. California has enacted 15 election-related bills so far this year.

Recent activity

Enacted bills

Nine election-related bills have been approved since our last edition, compared to three bills in 2023 and 13 bills in 2022 during the same week. Click individual bills below to see their full summaries. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

California (Democratic trifecta)

  • CA AB3184
    • Establishes that information regarding voters who did not sign a vote by mail ballot envelope or whose signature on the vote by mail ballot envelope did not compare with the voter’s signature on file must be treated as confidential voter registration information. This information can be provided to any candidate for federal, state, or local office, to any committee for or against any initiative or referendum measure for which legal publication is made, and to any person for election, scholarly, journalistic, or political purposes, or for governmental purposes as determined by the secretary of state.
  • CA AB2642
    • Prohibits anyone from intimidating, threatening, or coercing a person who is voting, aiding someone in voting, or administering any aspect of elections.
    • Establishes that anyone who carries a firearm or imitation firearm while participating in or observing others voting, aiding someone in voting, or administering any aspect of elections will be presumed to be engaging in prohibited intimidation.
    • Authorizes an aggrieved individual, an election officer, or the attorney general to bring a lawsuit, including to recover court and attorney costs. 
  • CA AB2127
    • Requires the Secretary of State to establish a task force to implement the Motor Voter Program and for the task force to meet quarterly.
    • Requires the task force to include the Secretary of State’s National Voter Registration Act coordinator, the Department of Motor Vehicle’s National Voter Registration Act coordinator, county election officials, individuals with language accessibility experience, representatives of the disability community, experts in elections, and experts in civic design.
    • Requires the task force to advise the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles on effective implementation of the new Motor Voter Program and provides that this act will remain in effect until Jan. 1, 2030, instead of Jan. 1, 2025.
  • CA AB2951
    • Requires county elections official to send an intent to cancel notice with a prepaid and pre-addressed envelope and instructions to enable the voter correct a voter registration cancellation between 15-30 days before cancellation due to mental incapacity to vote, a prison commitment, or the voter has failed to respond to an address verification. A county elections official must send notice within 15 days before or after cancellation of a voter’s registration due to death to enable the voter to verify or correct a voter registration cancellation
    • Requires the secretary of state to submit an update on Jan. 1, 2025, and on the first of each month until July 1, 2025, detailing its efforts and progress in fully implementing and achieving compliance with these cancellation provisions. This requirement is repealed on Jan. 1, 2025.
    • Requires a county elections office to use only information provided by the secretary of state under existing law, by a U.S. District Court, or by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to cancel a voter registration for mental incompetence or imprisonment reasons. 
  • CA SB1441
    • Sets a deadline of 60 days after a proponent of a petition starts a petition examination for a petition that has been deemed insufficient for the proponent to complete the examination.
    • Requires any costs incurred by the county elections official to continue the examination to be reimbursed by the proponents if the examination is not concluded within five business days from the date that the examination begins.
    • Requires the elections official to estimate the costs necessary to support the examination before the examination may continue past five business days and make a new estimate of costs to take place at the beginning of each day of examination following the 5th day. 
    • Requires the proponent of a petition examination to deposit a required sum of money daily with election officials as an estimated cost to cover the cost of examination that day. The proponent is entitled to the return of any money deposited in excess of the cost of the examination.
  • CA SB977
    • Establishes a Citizens Redistricting Commission in San Luis Obispo County consisting of 11 members no later than Dec. 31, 2030 and each decade after to draw supervisorial districts for the County’s Board of Supervisors.
    • Provides for the selection criteria, qualifications, and selection process for commission members.
    • Establishes the term of office of each member of the commission expires upon the appointment of members of the succeeding commission.
    • Establishes that the commission must establish single-member supervisorial districts for the board using a mapping process and provides for the criteria to be used. The commission shall conduct at least five public hearings, to take place over a period of no fewer than 30 days, with at least one public hearing held in each supervisorial district. 
  • CA AB1784
    • Prohibits a candidate from filing nomination papers for more than one office in the same primary election.
    • Stipulates that a candidate may withdraw nomination documents for an office other than a statewide office that the candidate delivered to a county election office and outlines the required content and timeline of the statement of withdrawal.
    • Authorizes a candidate who successfully withdraws from an election to file nominating documents for another office in the filing period.
    • Stipulates that if a candidate withdraws a nomination but does not qualify as a candidate for another office, the candidate’s name will not appear on the ballot for any office in the election.
  • CA SB863
    • Authorizes the state legislature to specify that a constitutional amendment, bond measure, or other measure submitted to voters may appear on the ballot at an election other than the first statewide election occurring at least 131 days after the legislature’s adoption of the proposed measure as long as that election occurs at least 131 days after the legislature’s adoption.
  • CA SB1514
    • Authorizes a registrar of voters to be appointed by the board of supervisors in Sonoma County. 

Bills that passed both chambers

One bill has passed both chambers since our last edition. Click individual bills below to see their full summaries. To see all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.

New York (Democratic trifecta)

  • NY S09145
    • Provides that every registered fire district voter is allowed to cast one vote for each vacant position on a board of fire commissioners at the first annual fire district officer election. Previously, the candidate with the highest number of votes would fill the vacancy with the longest remaining term. 

Vetoed bills

There have been two gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 34 bills so far this year, compared to 37 at this point in 2023 and 17 at this point in 2022. Click individual bills below to see their full summaries. To see all vetoed bills, click here.

On Sept. 22, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed two election-related bills, one that would have created a pilot program for in-person voting for incarcerated voters (CA AB544) and another that would have required ballots to be printed in additional languages (CA AB884). 

In his veto message of CA AB544, Newsom said, “While I appreciate the author’s commitment to this issue, under the Elections Code, counties are able to establish these types of programs without statutory authority. Further, this bill creates a new, unfunded grant program and should be considered in the annual budget process.” Similarly, in a statement on CA AB884, Newsom said, “While I support the author’s goal of expanding language access and resources in our elections, this bill would create new, ongoing general fund cost pressures in the tens of millions of dollars not included in the 2024 Budget Act.” 

California (Democratic trifecta)

  • CA AB544
    • Requires the secretary of state to operate a pilot grant program to provide grants to county election offices in San Benito, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz Counties to design, implement, and evaluate a program to improve voter participation in statewide primary and general elections from 2026 through 2028. Grants must be administered by the county elections office to coordinate with county sheriffs or jail administrators to provide in-person voting to eligible incarcerated persons and may also provide in-person voting for eligible incarcerated persons for local and special elections.
  • CA AB884
    • Requires the secretary of state to determine the number of residents of voting age in each county and precinct who are members of a single language minority group by Dec. 15, 2025 and by Dec. 15 of every subsequent year immediately following a presidential election. This includes language minority groups not subject to the federal Voting Rights Act and who lack sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance. 
    • Requires the secretary of state to make publicly available on their website a list of languages used by single language minority groups including language minority groups not subject to the federal Voting Rights Act who meet certain population requirements.

Recent activity by state

Of the 13 bills with activity over the previous week, 12 (92.3%) were in states with Democratic trifectas, and one (7.7%) was in a state with divided government.

The map below shows election-related bills acted on in the past week by state trifecta status.

All legislation

Enacted bills

States have enacted 381 bills so far this year, compared to 603 bills in 2023 and 229 in 2022. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

One-hundred seven of the election-related bills passed this year (28.1%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 222 (58.3%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 52 (13.6%) are in states with a divided government. The chart below shows enacted election-related bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.

All bills 

Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,768 (46.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,370 (36.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 645 (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 chart below shows election-related bills introduced by partisan sponsorship and trifecta status this year.