Lawmakers have passed more election administration laws this year than they did in 2023 or 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Monday, March 24, 2025, Brew. 

By: Lara Bonatesta

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. Lawmakers have passed more election administration laws this year than they did in 2023 or 2024
  2. 237 years ago today, Rhode Island voted against ratifying the U.S. Constitution

Lawmakers have passed more election administration laws this year than they did in 2023 or 2024

As the first quarter of 2025 nears its close and legislative sessions continue across the country, let’s explore some data from our State of Election Administration Legislation 2025 Spring Report.

Among the thousands of bills and resolutions lawmakers consider every year, we highlight election administration legislation in reports like this one to help readers understand the nuts and bolts of democracy. Things like what we see on the ballot, how we vote, and the candidates that run in our communities are all decided at the state level, making election administration central to how we participate in our democracy. 

This report covers election-related legislative activity in 2025 state legislative sessions. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are current as of March 11. Click here to read the full report. 

So far, the number of new election laws passed this year is slightly ahead of 2023, the last year when all 50 states held legislative sessions. For the third year in a row, states with a Republican trifecta have adopted the most bills to date.

So far, in 2025, Ballotpedia has identified 3,505 election-related bills and resolutions. We identified 3,971 bills in 2024 and 3,734 in 2023.

Slightly more than half of this year’s legislation has Republican-sponsorship. Democratic-sponsored bills make up 37.5%, and bipartisan bills make up 7%. 

Generally, Democratic lawmakers have focused on:

  • Expanding same-day and automatic voter registration 
  • Mailing absentee/mail-in ballot request forms automatically 
  • Increasing the availability of drop boxes 
  • Authorizing new uses of RCV

Republican lawmakers have generally focused on:

  • Requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration 
  • Ending automatic or no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting 
  • Banning ranked-choice voting (RCV) 
  • Increasing signature requirements for ballot access 
  • Raising vote thresholds for amendments

Lawmakers from both parties have advanced legislation:

  • Revising ballot access rules for candidates 
  • Increasing voter list maintenance activities
  • Updating ballot counting procedures to speed up election results

Ballotpedia identified five noteworthy policy topics that drew significant attention from lawmakers across the country and encompassed a range of policy proposals. Click on the link associated with each topic to learn more about relevant legislative activity. 

  • Absentee/mail-in voting: Lawmakers introduced 308 bills and resolutions related to absentee/mail-in voting in 43 states. These bills cover various aspects of mail-in voting, including how to request or return a mailed ballot, the deadlines to do so, the method of tabulating mailed ballots, and when election officials must mail ballots. Click on the following links to see examples:
  • Ballot access and changes to ballot initiatives: The report analyzes three issues related to ballot access and changes to ballot initiatives. Here are those issues and some examples:
  • Ranked-choice voting (RCV): Lawmakers have introduced 77 bills related to RCV, including 48 that would allow or require a new use of RCV and 23 that would ban or repeal uses of RCV. Here are some examples:
  • Voter registration: More than 10% of all election-related legislation this year — 505 bills in 44 states — deals with voter registration. These bills address issues like establishing same-day registration, changing how elections officials verify an individual’s eligibility to vote, joining or leaving multistate voter list maintenance (VLM) data-sharing compacts, other amendments to the list maintenance process, and more.
  • Voter ID: There are 194 bills that would change voter identification laws, including bills that require voters to provide identification when returning a mail-in ballot. Other bills would change what types of voter identification are accepted and modify drivers’ licenses to state when an individual is eligible to vote. Here are some examples:

Ballotpedia publishes three long-form reports a year that provide ongoing coverage of legislative activity affecting election administration. Click here to see past reports.

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237 years ago today, Rhode Island voted against ratifying the U.S. Constitution

Did you know that one state put the U.S. Constitution to a vote? On March 24, 1788, Rhode Island held a referendum to gauge public sentiment on ratifying the proposed federal Constitution. According to the Rhode Island Department of State, it was the only one of the first 13 states to put the Constitution to a popular vote. 

The resolution called on “Freemen and Freeholders within this State, to convene in their respective Towns, in Town Meetings assembled, and to deliberate upon, and determine each Individual by himself by Poll, whether the said Constitution for the United States shall be adopted or negatived.” Town clerks held the meetings on March 24, where electors voted ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay.’ Clerks recorded each vote and sent certified copies to the General Assembly.

The certified results were 91.95% – 8.05% against ratifying the Constitution. There were 237 votes in favor and 2,708 votes against. Federalists called on electors to boycott the vote, and turnout was less than 50%.

According to Rhode Island’s Department of State, “There were several reasons for Rhode Island’s resistance including its concern that the Constitution gave too much power to the central government at the expense of the states. The Constitution would also have made the state’s practice of printing paper money illegal. The issue best remembered today, however, is that in its original form, the Constitution did not explicitly protect religious freedom, a core Rhode Island principle introduced by Roger Williams and protected in its Royal Charter.”

Here’s some other background information about Rhode Island’s ratification of the U.S. Constitution:

  • Rhode Island was the only state that did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
  • According to the U.S. House Office of the Historian, Rhode Island made 11 attempts to hold a constitutional ratifying convention.
  • Rhode Island ultimately held a convention to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790. Delegates voted 34- 32 to ratify, the smallest margin of any state. 

Following the first 13 states’ ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the 37 other states were admitted to the United States through Article IV, Section 3, also known as the Admissions Clause. 

To learn more about Rhode Island’s Ratification of the U.S. Constitution, click here.

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