The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, May 31, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

State legislatures acted on 146 bills this week, 51 less than last week. 

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.

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Legislative highlights

  • Fifteen bills have been approved since our last edition. Two hundred eighty-one bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 380 in 2023 and 145 in 2022. 
  • This week, Louisiana became the fifth state to enact legislation prohibiting ranked-choice voting (RCV).
  • State legislatures acted on 146 bills this week, 51 less than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 76 (52.1%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 52 (35.6%) bills. Seventeen (11.6%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. One (0.7%) bill had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship. 
  • Ninety-four (64.4%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 47 (32.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and five (3.4%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • Seventy-four bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Thirty-one were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 25. Forty-three were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 31.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
    1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (40)
    2. Election dates and deadlines (24)
    3. Voter registration and list maintenance (13)
    4. Ballot access (12)
    5. Absentee/mail-in voting (9)
    6. Audits and oversight (9)
    7. Election Day voting (9)

    Recent activity

    Enacted bills

    States approved 15 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 25 in 2023 and 12 in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

    Hawaii (Democratic trifecta)

    Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

    • LA SB101: Provides relative to ranked-choice voting and instant runoff voting. 
    • LA SB420: Creates the crime of election fraud or forgery. 
    • LA SB226: Provides relative to absentee by mail ballots.
    • LA SB218: Provides relative to voting. 
    • LA SB13: Prohibits an elected official who has been removed from office from filling the vacancy created by the removal. 
    • LA SB155: Provides relative to marking absentee by mail ballots. 
    • LA SB198: Provides relative to prohibitions to dual candidacy.
    • LA SB140: Provides relative to objections to candidacy. 
    • LA SB449: Defines certain terms in the election code. 
    • LA SB258: Provides relative to early or absentee by mail voting and the passing of that voter before election day. 

    Minnesota (Democratic trifecta)

    • MN HF5247: Taxation and state government operations; various provisions modified, and money appropriated.

    Tennessee (Republican trifecta)

    • TN SB2517: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 16, Chapter 2, relative to judicial districts.
    • TN SB2979: AN ACT to amend Chapter 553 of the Acts of 1903; as amended by Chapter 395 of the Acts of 1905; Chapter 405 of the Acts of 1907; Chapter 468 of the Private Acts of 1917; Chapter 200 of the Private Acts of 1919; Chapter 105 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 460 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 700 of the Private Acts of 1931; Chapter 334 of the Private Acts of 1943; Chapter 252 of the Private Acts of 1951; Chapter 513 of the Private Acts of 1951; Chapter 376 of the Private Acts of 1955; Ch

    West Virginia (Republican trifecta)

    • WV SB1014: Clarifying procedure for political party nomination of presidential electors

    Bills that passed both chambers

    Four bills have passed both chambers since our last edition and await gubernatorial action. To see all bills that have currently passed both chambers, click here.

    Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

    • LA HB677: Makes revisions to the system of laws providing for elections 
    • LA HB476: Provides for the delivery of absentee ballots by a person other than the voter
    • LA SB96: Provides relative to voter registration.
    • LA HB570: Provides for the change of party affiliation prior to the close of registration

    Vetoed bills

    Governors have not vetoed any bills since our last edition. Six bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 29 bills so far this year, compared to 15 at this point in 2023 and nine at this point in 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.

    Recent activity by topic and sponsorship

    The chart below shows the topics and partisan sponsorship of the bills with legislative activity since our last edition. Click here to see a full list of bill categories and their definitions.

    * Note: Contest-specific procedures refer to primary systems, municipal election procedures, recall elections, special election procedures, and other systems unique to a particular election type. 

    Recent activity by state and trifecta status

    Of the 146 bills with activity this week, 94 (64.4%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 47 (32.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and five (3.4%) are in states 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 by sponsorship and trifecta status

    States have enacted 281 bills so far this year, compared to 380 bills in 2023 and 145 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

    Forty-seven of the election-related bills passed this year (16.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 188 (66.9%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 46 (16.4%) are in states with a divided government. The table below shows the number of enacted election-related bills introduced by trifecta status this year compared to 2023 and 2022.

    All bills by topic and sponsorship

    The chart below displays the topic and sponsorship of a sample of the 3,676 total bills we’ve followed this year. Note that the sums of the numbers listed do not equal the total number of bills because some bills deal with multiple topics.  

    All bills by sponsorship and trifecta status

    Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,099 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 796 (22%) bills in states with Republican trifectas.

    The chart below shows the percentage of all election-related bills by sponsorship and trifecta status.

    All bills by state and trifecta status

    Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,699 (46.2%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,348 (36.7%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 629 (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 map below shows the number of election-related bills introduced by state and trifecta status this year.