In this week’s Ballot Bulletin, we cover four bills acted on since our last edition. We will not be sending a Nov. 8 edition, but keep an eye out for a special edition of The Daily Brew on Nov. 6, full of the election results you need to know. Our coverage of election-related legislation and news will resume on Nov. 15.
Want more news and updates on election policy? We’re tracking election-related litigation across the country, with a focus on cases with recent activity and those in which the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, or a state political party appears as a plaintiff or defendant. Click here to learn more, and be sure to check out Ballotpedia’s 2024 Election Help Desk for reliable, nonpartisan information on more than 50 other election-related topics.
Legislative highlights
- No bills were approved last week. Three hundred eighty-six bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 633 in 2023 and 231 in 2022.
- State legislatures acted on four bills this week, the same as last week.
- The top bill topics this week were:
- Election types and contest-specific procedures (3)
- Ballots and voting materials (1)
In the news
Here’s a rundown of recent news stories and developments from across the country on election administration.
- On Oct. 31, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) must release the names of 98,000 registered voters who might have registered without providing proof of citizenship. Fontes must provide the group requesting the names, Stronger Communities Foundation, with the list by Nov. 4. The group has said it would use the list for voter outreach purposes.
- On Oct. 31, a U.S. district court judge in Ohio denied the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) request to block the state from requiring voters whose citizenship eligibility is challenged to present their naturalization papers. The ACLU and six Ohio voters filed the lawsuit last week, alleging that the requirement is “not only burdensome and discriminatory, it’s unlawful.”
- On Oct. 30, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay in a case involving Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) executive order removing more than 6,000 voters from the state’s voter rolls. A lower court previously ordered the state to restore the registration of 1,600 voters, and an appeals court upheld that decision, but the Supreme Court’s ruling allows officials to continue enforcing the order.
- On Oct. 29, a U.S. district court judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a lawsuit by six congressional Republicans seeking to implement new verification procedures for overseas voters. U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner said the plaintiffs “provide no good excuse for waiting until barely a month before the election to bring this lawsuit.”
Recent activity
Enacted bills
No election-related bills have been approved since our last edition, and no bills were enacted in 2023 or 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here.
Bills that passed both chambers
No bills have passed both chambers since our last edition. To see all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.
Vetoed bills
There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 37 bills so far this year, compared to 37 at this point in 2023 and 17 at this point in 2022. Click individual bills below to see their full summaries. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
Recent activity by state
Of the four bills with activity over the previous week, two were in states with Democratic trifectas, one was in a state with a Republican trifecta, and one was in a state with divided governments.
The map below shows election-related bills acted on in the past week by state trifecta status.
All legislation
Enacted bills
States have enacted 386 bills so far this year, compared to 633 bills in 2023 and 231 in 2022. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
One hundred twelve of the election-related bills passed this year (29%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 222 (57.5%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 52 (13.5%) are in states with a divided government. The chart below shows enacted election-related bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
All bills
Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,768 (46.7%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,370 (36.2%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 645 (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 chart below shows election-related bills introduced by partisan sponsorship and trifecta status this year.
