Lawmakers have pre-filed 103 election administration bills since Dec. 10

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Thursday, Dec. 19, Brew. 

By: Briana Ryan

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

  1. Lawmakers have pre-filed 103 election administration bills since Dec. 10
  2. Mayorship in six of the 100 largest U.S. cities changed party control this year
  3. Upcoming school board election filing deadlines

Lawmakers have pre-filed 103 election administration bills since Dec. 10

In the past week, Lawmakers have pre-filed an additional 103 election administration bills in 10 states. That brings the 2025 total so far to 199, which is 11.8% more than the 178 bills we were following at this same point in 2023.

We previously wrote about the prefiled bills in the Dec. 10 Brew—when there were 96 bills so far.

Lawmakers in Texas have introduced the most bills, accounting for 52.3% of the bills that have been pre-filed so far. The Texas Legislature only holds sessions in odd-numbered years. In 2023, Missouri had the most at 73 pre-filed bills.

Lawmakers in states with Republican trifectas have introduced the majority (90.5%) of pre-filed legislation so far. Bills in states with Democratic trifectas account for 3%, and states with divided government make up 6.5%. In 2023, lawmakers in states with Republican trifectas introduced the majority (88.2%) of prefiled legislation that year. Bills in states with Democratic trifectas accounted for 5.6%, and states with divided government made up 6.2%.

Democrats sponsored 76 (38.2%) of the pre-filed bills, while Republicans sponsored 96 (48.2%). The remaining 13.6% of bills had sponsors other than Democrats and Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or legislative committees.

The top five legislative topic areas for 2025 so far include the following:

  1. Election types and contest-specific procedures (39)
  2. Voter registration and list maintenance (28)
  3. Election Day voting (26) 
  4. Voters and voter qualifications (23)
  5. Ballot access (23)

To learn more about our election-legislation categories, click here. 

The pre-filing process allows legislators to prepare or introduce bills before the session starts. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, pre-filing can increase efficiency, giving staff more time to draft legislation, complete paperwork, and allow committees to set agendas in advance.

All 50 states will hold legislative sessions in 2025. Many states will hold longer sessions in the odd-number year when they do not have legislative elections. States where legislatures did not convene this year, like Nevada and Texas, may have more activity on election administration bills. Conversely, there may be less activity in Virginia, which was active this year but has statewide elections in 2025.

This year, we followed 3,847 election administration bills—more than in 2023 (3,719). In total, states adopted 403 new election laws this year, less than at this point in 2023 (642) but more than in 2022 (235). Some of the most active topics this year were:

  • Ranked-choice voting (RCV)
  • Voter list maintenance
  • Noncitizen voting
  • Voter registration
  • Criminal penalties for threatening election officials or workers
  • Absentee/mail-in ballot administration
  • Primary elections
  • Hand counting and voting equipment
  • Voting rights for individuals convicted of a felony or while incarcerated

You can read more about our findings this year and what to expect next year in our State of Election Administration Legislation 2024 Year-End Report.

To keep track of the election-related legislation state lawmakers are considering, check out our Election Administration Legislation Tracker. There, we identify and analyze relevant bills, apply category tags, and summarize their contents. 

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Mayoral partisanship changed in six of the 100 largest U.S. cities this year

Mayors’ offices in six of the 100 largest U.S. cities will change party control due to the 2024 elections, for a net gain of one for Democrats and a net loss of one for Republicans. This means Republicans will head into 2025 holding 25 mayoral offices, the fewest since we began following mayoral partisanship in 2016. 

Thirty-four of the 100 largest cities held mayoral elections in 2024, with the last two runoff elections held on Dec. 14. Voters in the following cities elected a mayor of a different party than the incumbent:

As of Dec. 18, the party affiliation of one mayor-elect was unknown. We contacted El Paso, Texas, Mayor-elect Renard Johnson‘s campaign to inquire about his party affiliation following the Dec. 14 runoff election and have not received a reply. As incumbent Oscar Leeser is a Democrat, this brings the net gain of two for Democrats in the above elections down to one for the year until we can confirm Johnson’s party affiliation.

At the start of 2024, the mayors of 63 of the country’s 100 largest cities were affiliated with the Democratic Party, 26 were affiliated with the Republican Party, and one was affiliated with the Libertarian Party. Four mayors were independents, four were nonpartisan, and two mayors’ partisan affiliations were unknown.

Once mayors elected in 2024 are sworn in, there will be 64 Democratic mayors, 25 Republican mayors, one Libertarian mayor, three independent mayors, four nonpartisan mayors, and three mayors with unknown party affiliation. 

Heading into the year, 18 of the 34 cities holding elections in 2024 had a Democratic mayor, 11 had a Republican mayor, and the remaining five cities had independent or nonpartisan mayors. 

Between 2016 and 2024, the number of Democratic-led top-100 cities ranged from 61 to 65, and the number of Republican-led cities ranged from 26 to 30. Since 2016, the year with the highest number of elections that resulted in an office changing party control was 2020, with seven.

In cities where mayoral elections are nonpartisan, we use one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder’s partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.

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Upcoming school board election filing deadlines

This year, we covered elections for more than 25,000 school board seats in 36 states. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on covering the country’s more than 80,000 school board seats. The 2024 holiday season might be approaching, but so are some filing deadlines for school board elections in early 2025. 

Below, you’ll find upcoming filing deadlines for districts holding elections in the first part of 2025:

  • Districts in Missouri have filing deadlines on Dec. 31 for the general election on April 8.
  • Districts in Wisconsin have filing deadlines on Jan. 7 for primaries—if necessary—on Feb. 18. General elections are scheduled for April 1.
  • The Anchorage School District in Alaska has a filing deadline of Jan. 24 for a general election on April 1. 

Districts in Oklahoma had filing deadlines on Dec. 4 for primaries on Feb. 11. General elections are scheduled for April 1.

Hall Pass, our weekly newsletter on school board politics and education policy, also featured this story. Click here to read more stories like this and stay updated on school board election filing deadlines.

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