In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover four bills acted on since our last edition. All four of these bills were in states with Democratic trifectas.
Legislative highlights
- No bills were approved last week. Three hundred eighty-six bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 630 in 2023 and 231 in 2022.
- State legislatures acted on four bills this week, the same as last week.
- The top bill topics this week were:
- Election types and contest-specific procedures (3)
- Offices (1)
- Voters and voter qualifications (1)
In the news
Here’s a rundown of recent news stories and developments from across the country on election administration.
- On Oct. 17, a U.S. district court judge dismissed a portion of a lawsuit challenging the validity of up to 225,000 North Carolina voters’ registration status. The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the state’s Republican Party filed the lawsuit on Aug. 23, alleging that the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) unlawfully registered ineligible voters.
- On Oct. 17, the RNC and the Georgia Republican Party appealed a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s ruling that Georgia’s State Election Board lacked the authority to institute new election rules. Judge Thomas Cox said the board’s actions were “unsupported by Georgia’s Election Code and are in fact contrary to the Election Code.”
- A U.S. district court judge in Texas struck down provisions of a state election law on Oct.11, including provisions requiring people assisting a voter to sign an oath that the voter qualifies for assistance and prohibiting the compensation of those providing assistance. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the bill, SB1, on Sept. 7, 2021.
- On Oct. 11, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Virginia, alleging that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) Aug. 7 executive order has led to qualified voters having their registration canceled. Youngkin’s order directed the Virginia Department of Elections to remove ineligible voters from the state’s voter rolls, including those unable to verify their citizenship.
Recent activity
Enacted bills
No election-related bills have been approved since our last edition, compared to four 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 630 bills in 2023 and 231 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.