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 eight bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.
Weekly highlights
The big takeaways from the past week’s legislative actions.
Lawmakers in four states acted on eight bills over the last week, 40 fewer than last week. Nine state legislatures are still in regular or special sessions.
- No bills were enacted this week. Two bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, one was enacted in 2023, and none were enacted in 2022.
- Legislators acted on 13 bills in 2024 and seven in 2023 during the same week.
- Seven of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, and one is in a state with a divided government.
- The most active bill categories this week were election types and contest-specific procedures (4), voter registration and list maintenance (4), audits and oversight (2), campaign finance (2), and offices (2).
- We are currently following 4,671 bills. At this time in 2023, the last odd year when all states held legislative sessions, we were following 2,892 bills.
In the news
A glance at what’s making headlines in the world of election law.
- On July 28, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2009 Arkansas law prohibiting anyone except poll workers from assisting more than six voters. The decision reverses a 2022 U.S. district court ruling on the grounds plaintiff in the case, Arkansas United of Fayetteville, lacked standing to bring the lawsuit.
- On July 25, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (R) rejected a U.S. Department of Justice request for the state’s voter registration records. Scanlan said, “New Hampshire law authorizes the Secretary of State to release the statewide voter registration list in limited circumstances not applicable here. That said, each municipality’s public checklist can be obtained from their respective supervisors or clerks.”
- On July 25, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Montana Republican Party filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit challenging two of the state’s election laws. The Montana Federation of Public Employees filed the lawsuit in May challenging SB490, which reduces the period for same-day voter registration from 13 hours to five hours, and SB276, which eliminates a provisional form for voters without required identification.
- On July 24, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s ruling that individuals could not sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Two North Dakota tribes and three Indigenous North Dakotans filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging the state’s legislative districts diluted the voting power of Native Americans.
Key movements
A look at what bills are moving and where.
No bills were enacted in the past week. Two bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, one was enacted in 2023, and none were enacted in 2022. To see all enacted bills, click here.
One bill passed both chambers of a state legislature. To see the full list of all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.
- California (Democratic trifecta)
No bills were vetoed in the past week. Sixty-five bills have been vetoed so far this year. 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
No 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 31 weeks of each year.
All bills
We are following 4,671 election-related bills this year, including bills carried over from the previous year.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,746 (37.4%)
- Republican: 2,147 (46%)
- Divided: 778 (16.7%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,787 (38.3%)
- Republican: 2,260 (48.4%)
- Bipartisan: 401 (8.6%)
- Other: 223 (4.8%)
We were following 2,892 bills at this point in 2023. Below is a breakdown of those bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,518 (52.5%)
- Republican: 942 (32.6%)
- Divided: 432 (14.9%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,333 (46.1%)
- Republican: 1,063 (36.7%)
- Bipartisan: 328 (11.3%)
- Other: 168 (5.8%)
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.
