The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, June 28, 2024

By

Ballotpedia staff

Sixty-three of the election-related bills passed this year (19.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 213 (65.3%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 50 (15.3%) are in states with a divided government.

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. We’ll be taking a week off for Independence Day, but we will be back with a July 12 edition!

In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover 48 bills state legislatures acted on this week.

Every year, state lawmakers consider thousands of bills that would change how Americans vote and how elections are administered. Keep an eye out for Ballotpedia’s State of Election Administration 2024 Mid-Year Report, available July 1, which provides insights, analysis, and takeaways from the more than 3,745 election-related bills we tracked this year. 

Legislative highlights

  • Eight bills have been approved since our last edition. Three hundred twenty-six bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 525 in 2023 and 191 in 2022. 
  • State legislatures acted on 48 bills this week, 22 fewer than last week. 
  • Democrats sponsored 27 (56.3%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 16 (33.3%) bills. Five (10.4%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. 
  • Thirty-two (66.7%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, seven (14.6%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and nine (18.8%) are in states with a divided government. 
  • Thirty-three bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Twenty-eight were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 23. One was in a state with a Republican trifecta and was Republican-sponsored.
  • The top bill topics this week were:
  1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (28)
  2. Audits and oversight (5)
  3. Election dates and deadlines (5)
  4. Ballot access (4)
  5. Voter registration and list maintenance (4)

Recent activity

Enacted bills

States approved eight election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 19 in 2023 and 11 in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here. 

Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

  • LA SB421: Creates a renaissance district in certain parishes. (8/1/24) (EN SEE FISC NOTE LF EX See Note)
  • LA HB506: Provides relative voter registration applications collected through registration drives
  • LA HB581: Provides requirements and restrictions on the ability to witness election documents
  • LA HB782: Makes supplemental appropriations for Fiscal Year 2023-2024
  • LA HB962: Provides relative to the preparation, verification, tabulation, and counting of absentee by mail and early voting ballots

Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)

  • RI H8324: JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR A BI-PARTISAN PREPARATORY COMMISSION TO ASSEMBLE INFORMATION ON CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS IN PREPARATION FOR A VOTE BY THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS ON THE HOLDING OF A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE XIV SECTION 2 OF THE RHODE ISLAND CONSTITUTION (This resolution would provide for a twelve (12) member bi-partisan commission to assemble information on constitutional questions in preparation for a vote by electors on holding a constitutional convention,
  • RI S3059: Changes the meeting of presidential electors from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election to the first Tuesday.

Utah (Republican trifecta)

Bills that passed both chambers

Six 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.

California (Democratic trifecta)

Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)

  • RI H8304: Changes the meeting of presidential electors from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election to the first Tuesday.
  • RI S2780: Requires mail ballot drop boxes to be opened thirty-five (35) days prior to election day, and twenty (20) days prior to special elections.
  • RI H7849: Requires mail ballot drop boxes to be opened thirty-five (35) days prior to election day, and twenty (20) days prior to special elections.
  • RI H7662: Allows non-affiliated party voters to vote in party primaries, without becoming an affiliated party voter.
  • RI H8299: AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF NORTH KINGSTOWN TO ISSUE NOT MORE THAN $137,200,000 OF BONDS AND NOTES FOR CONSTRUCTION, IMPROVEMENT, RENOVATION, DEMOLITION, REMEDIATION, FURNISHING, EQUIPPING AND OTHER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OF SCHOOL FACILITIES THROUGHOUT THE TOWN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, A NEW WICKFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL

Vetoed bills

There have been two gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and one was vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 32 bills so far this year, compared to 34 at this point in 2023 and 16 at this point in 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.

Louisiana (Republican trifecta)

  • LA SB68: Provides for appointment of an ad hoc judge for election contests and challenges. (8/1/24) (EN NO IMPACT See Note)
    • This bill would have required the Supreme Court of Louisiana to appoint an ad hoc judge to preside over local election challenges. 
    • In his veto message, Gov. Jeff Landry (R) said, “Judges should be accountable to the people, and the people expect their cases to be heard by the judges who they elected. Should any conflicts arise, existing law is sufficient to protect the parties involved.” 
    • Mississippi enacted a similar bill this year, HB1135, which requires election challenges to be heard by judges preselected by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
  • LA HB926: Provides for the election of judges of the first district of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal

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 48 bills with activity this week, 32 (66.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, seven (14.6%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and nine (18.8%) 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 326 bills so far this year, compared to 525 bills in 2023 and 191 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Sixty-three of the election-related bills passed this year (19.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 213 (65.3%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 50 (15.3%) 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 3,745 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, 1,137 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 798 (21%) 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, 1,749 (46.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,357 (36.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 639 (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.