In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover four bills acted on since our last edition. No election-related bills have been approved since our last edition, compared to 20 bills in 2023 during the same week.
Legislative highlights
No bills were approved last week. Three hundred eighty-six bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 626 in 2023 and 230 in 2022.
State legislatures acted on four bills this week, six fewer than last week.
The top bill topics this week were:
Election types and contest-specific procedures (3)
Offices (1)
Ballot access (1)
Counting and certification (1)
Election officials and workers (1)
In the news
Here’s a rundown of recent news stories and developments from across the country on election administration.
On Oct. 10, officials in two states modified election laws in response to Hurricane Helene. In North Carolina, the state’s election board approved new rules allowing counties to change early voting times and locations. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued an executive order allowing officials to combine voting centers or move them to another location.
On Oct. 8, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (R) ordered cities and towns in the state to issue affidavit ballots to first-time registrants without identification, conflicting with a newly signed law, HB1569, prohibiting the use of such ballots. Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed the bill on Sept. 17.
The New York Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 8 that a state law moving some local elections to even-numbered years is unconstitutional. Judge Gerard Neri wrote that, “The Even Year Election Law is unconstitutional as specifically prohibited by Article IX of the New York State Constitution.”
On Oct. 5,the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to hear two election-related cases. In one case, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the state’s ballot dating requirement. The Republican National Committee and Pennsylvania Republican Party filed the other lawsuit that asked the court to end procedures allowing voters in some counties to correct errors on their ballots.
Recent activity
Enacted bills
No election-related bills have been approved since our last edition, compared to 20 bills in 2023 and one bill in 2022 during the same week. Click individual bills below to see their full summaries. To see all enacted bills, click here.
Bills that passed both chambers
No bills have 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.
Vetoed bills
There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 37 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.
Recent activity by state
Of the four bills with activity over the previous week, two were in states with Democratic trifectas and two were in states with divided governments.
The map below shows election-related bills acted on in the past week by state trifecta status.
All legislation
Enacted bills
States have enacted 386 bills so far this year, compared to 626 bills in 2023 and 230 in 2022. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
One hundred twelve of the election-related bills passed this year (29%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 222 (57.5%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 52 (13.5%) 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.
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.