The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, November 22, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover 20 bills acted on since our last edition. 

Legislative highlights

  • Five bills passed both chambers in the past week and are awaiting gubernatorial approval. No bills were approved last week. Three hundred ninety-one bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 639 in 2023 and 233 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 20 bills this week, eight more than last week. 
  • The top bill topics this week were:
  1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (11)
  2. Offices (3)
  3. Alternative voting methods (1)
  4. Audits and oversight (1)
  5. Ballots and voting materials (1)
  6. Ballot verification (1)
  7. Election Day voting (1)
  8. Voter registration and list maintenance (1)
  9. 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 Nov. 21, a federal judge said a lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) alleging Fontes failed to accurately maintain state voter rolls lacked standing. U.S. District Court Judge Dominic Lanza, who President Donald Trump (R) nominated to the court in 2018, said he would hear arguments next month “to address any perceived errors in the court’s tentative analysis,” but that “A citizen does not have standing to challenge a government regulation because the plaintiff believes that the government is acting illegally.” 
  • On Nov. 19, U.S. Rep. Michael Bost (R) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s dismissal of his challenge to an Illinois state law allowing officials to count mail-in ballots up to two weeks after an election. A U.S. district court dismissed the case in July, saying Bost lacked standing, and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in August.
  • On Nov. 18, Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin (R) sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections, alleging it did not provide the information necessary for him to request a recount before the Nov. 19 deadline. Griffin ran against Allison Riggs (D) in the partisan general election for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.
  • On Nov. 15, a superior court judge in California dismissed a state lawsuit against the City of Huntington Beach regarding a local measure requiring voters to present ID at the polls. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill earlier this year prohibiting local governments from enacting laws that require voters to provide identification.

Recent activity

Enacted bills

No election-related bills were approved over the past week. Two bills were enacted in 2023, and two were enacted in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

Bills that passed both chambers

Five bills have passed both chambers since our last edition. To see all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.

Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)

  • MA H3725
    • Establishes a vacancy procedure for filling the office of Mayor in the city of Greenfield when the vacancy occurs in the last nine months of the term, requiring the president of the City Council to become Mayor, thereby requiring a vacancy on the City Council to be filled.
    • Establishes procedures for filling a vacancy on the School Committee in the city of Greenfield in which the person filling the vacancy shall serve only until the next regular election, at which time the vacancy shall be filled by the voters. The bill also specifies that those filling vacancies may not have the title “candidate for re-election.”
    • Establishes a three-member Greenfield Board of Assessors to be elected at-large by voters for staggered four-year terms.
    • Requires at least 500 voter signatures on a recall petition for a Greenfield city officer, including at least 25 voter signatures from each precinct, and provides that 100 or more voters from an individual precinct may sign a recall petition for an individual precinct elected officer. 
  • MA H4404
    • Increases the Board of Sewer Commissioners in Northfield from 3 to 5 members and creates staggered elections for the 2 new members until the expiration of their terms. 

North Carolina (divided government)

  • NC S382
    • Repeals certain superior court districts and reassigns voters in those districts to other superior court districts in the same county.
    • Restructures the State Board of Elections, changing it from an agency under the governor to a board under the Department of the State Auditor.
    • Changes the absentee ballot request deadline from 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election to 5:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday before the election.
    • Standardizes the return deadline for cured absentee or provisional ballots, setting it at 12:00 p.m. on the Friday after the election.
    • Requires county board of elections to meet at 5:00 p.m. on Election Day to count absentee ballots received through 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
    • Requires the governor to execute certain vacancy appointments within 15 days of receiving the written recommendation from a recommending official.
    • Requires the governor to fill vacancies on the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court by appointing a replacement from a list of three recommendations selected by the political party with which the vacating justice or judge was affiliated.

New York (Democratic trifecta)

  • NY S00610
    • Authorizes each board of elections to establish one or more ballot drop-off locations and provide notice of the location of these drop boxes on their websites.
    • Provides that a ballot is deemed received if it is placed in a drop box by the close of polls on election day.
    • Instructs election workers regarding closing drop boxes after closing time.
  • NY A07241
    • Provides a notarial recordkeeping and reporting exemption for records related to the nomination of candidates.

Vetoed bills

There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. One bill was vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 37 bills so far this year, compared to 39 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 20 bills with activity over the previous week, 11 were in states with Democratic trifectas, eight were in states with Republican trifectas, and one was in a state 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

States have enacted 391 bills so far this year, compared to 639 bills in 2023 and 233 in 2022. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

One hundred sixteen 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 53 (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, 1,788 (46.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,374 (36%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 658 (17.2%) 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.