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 511 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.
Weekly highlights
The big takeaways from the past week’s legislative actions.
Lawmakers in 40 states acted on 511 bills over the last week, 162 more than last week.
- Nine bills were enacted this week. No bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, three bills were enacted in 2023, and four bills were enacted in 2022.
- Legislators acted on 255 bills in 2024, 280 in 2023, and 242 bills in 2022 during the same week.
- One hundred forty-three of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 272 are in states with Republican trifectas, and 96 are in states with a divided government.
- The most active bill categories this week were election types and contest-specific procedures (225), campaign finance (97), and ballot access (76).
- We are currently following 3,238 bills. We were following 1,701 bills at this time in 2023.
Note: In some states, legislators are able to file hundreds of bills per day. We are actively reviewing those bills to determine their relevance to election administration. As a result, during this period of heightened legislative activity, year-to-year comparisons may not yet account for all relevant bills introduced in 2025.
In the news
A glance at what’s making headlines in the world of election law.
- On Feb. 26, the Georgia State Election Board voted to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to enforce a subpoena against the group True the Vote. The group filed complaints with the secretary of state’s office in 2021 alleging that it possessed evidence of ballots being fraudulently deposited at drop-box locations collection in Atlanta, Georgia. The secretary’s office subpoenaed the group in April 2022 asking it to provide evidence supporting its allegations.
- On Feb. 25, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed six election-related bills, including a bill modifying the state’s signature collection requirements for ballot measures. AR HB1221 changes existing law so that signatures collected for ballot measures are only valid until the date of the next general election after the certification of that particular measure.
- On Feb. 25, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a consolidated case that challenged parts of the state’s requirement for documentary proof of citizenship at the time of voter registration. The court upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of the plaintiffs and barred the requirement for documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections, whether using a federal or state-provided registration form. a portion of the 9th Circuit Court’s order, which held that applicants who swear under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen on the state registration form have a right be registered for federal elections, conflicts with stay issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 22, 2024.
- On Feb. 21, Vermont approved H0078, a bill allowing municipalities to elect officials using the Australian ballot system. The Australian ballot system involves a ballot that lists all candidates and proposals, is issued only at the polling place, and is marked in secret.
Key movements
A look at what bills are moving and where.
Nine bills were enacted in the past week. There were no bills enacted during the same week in 2024, three in 2023, and four in 2022. To see all enacted bills and their full summaries, click here.
- Arkansas (Republican trifecta)
- AR HB1099: Appropriates funds for the State Board of Election Commissioners (SBEC).
- AR HB1221: Establishes that signatures collected for a ballot measure are valid until the date of the next general election following the certification of the ballot title.
- AR SB173: Requires that when a ballot cannot be counted by an electronic counting device, officials must create a duplicate in the presence of another official.
- AR HB1196: Separates the offices of sheriff and tax collector in Montgomery County, Arkansas.
- AR HB1222: Allows the attorney general to reject ballot titles if they conflict with the United States Constitution or federal statutes.
- AR HB1223: Allows judicial incumbents who have held their position for at least 12 months to use their judicial title on the ballot when running for the same position.
- South Dakota (Republican trifecta)
- SD HB1072: Establishes rules for the elections and composition of boards in water development districts.
- Vermont (divided government)
- VT H0078: Allows municipalities to elect officials using the Australian ballot system.
- Wyoming (Republican trifecta)
- WY SF0078: Prohibits any person except a county clerk, the secretary of state, or their designees from distributing an absentee ballot request form to any voter unless that person specifically requests it.
Thirteen bills passed both chambers of state legislatures. To see all bills awaiting gubernatorial action and their full summaries, click here.
- Arkansas (Republican trifecta)
- Montana (Republican trifecta)
- MT HB39: Repeals a prohibition of political parties from making contributions to judicial candidates.
- South Dakota (Republican trifecta)
- SD SB167: Modifies rules for municipal governing bodies, including boards of trustees, city councils, and commissions.
- SD HB1093: Requires school district bond elections to be held on either the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, June, or November.
- SD HB1063: Requires the Legislative Research Council to prepare a fiscal statement for ballot measures or constitutional amendments that may impact state or local government finances.
- Virginia (divided government)
- VA HB2056: Allows county and city governing bodies to set the dates and hours of operation for voter satellite offices for absentee voting in person.
- VA HB2277: Provides that local electoral boards can be subject to penalties for not performing their election certification duties.
- VA HB1794: Changes the primary date for presidential election years to the first Tuesday in March.
- VA HB2668: Allows the State Board of Elections to remove electoral board members or general registrars by a two-thirds majority vote.
- VA HB1990: Authorizes governing bodies of municipalities court-ordered to conduct remedial elections to pass ordinances changing at-large seats to single-member districts.
- VA HB2002: Prohibits registrars from canceling voter registrations based on sources other than the Department of Elections or sources approved by the State Board of Elections.
- VA HB1735: Changes the voter registration deadline for primary and general elections in counties, cities, and towns from 21 to 10 days before the election and from 13 to 10 days for special elections.
Governors vetoed no bills in the past week. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2024, 2023, or 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
The big picture
Zooming out to see the macro-level trends in election policy so far this year.
Enacted bills
Nine bills were enacted this week. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2025 compared to previous years.
The chart below shows the number of bills enacted over the first 12 weeks of each year.
All bills
We are following 3,238 election-related bills this year, including bills carried over from the previous year.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,233 (38.1%)
- Republican: 1,519 (46.9%)
- Divided: 486 (15%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,224 (37.8%)
- Republican: 1,576 (48.7%)
- Bipartisan: 214 (6.6%)
- Other: 224 (6.9%)
We were following 1,701 bills at this point in 2023. Below is a breakdown of those bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 864 (50.8%)
- Republican: 662 (38.9%)
- Divided: 175 (10.3%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 702 (41.3%)
- Republican: 734 (43.2%)
- Bipartisan: 130 (7.6%)
- Other: 133 (7.8%)
See the charts below for a comparison of total bills between 2023 and 2025 and a breakdown of all 2025 legislation by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
