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 48 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.
Weekly highlights
The big takeaways from the past week’s legislative actions.
Lawmakers in nine states acted on 48 bills over the last week, three fewer than last week. Ten state legislatures are still in regular or special sessions.
- Six bills were enacted this week. No bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, eight were enacted in 2023, and 10 were enacted in 2022.
- Legislators acted on 15 bills in 2024 and nine in 2023 during the same week.
- Thirty-one of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 13 are in states with Republican trifectas, and four are in states with divided governments.
- The most active bill categories this week were election types and contest-specific procedures (17), ballot access (3), and offices (3).
- 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 2,890 bills.
In the news
A glance at what’s making headlines in the world of election law.
- On July 22, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Wyoming’s proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration. Judge Scott Skavdahl, an appointee of former President Barack Obama (D), said, “The Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over this lawsuit, and consequently it must be dismissed.”
- On July 21, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Valerie R. Manno Schurr ruled that the city cannot move the municipal election date to 2026 without voter approval. The Miami City Commission approved a measure to postpone municipal elections until November 2026 in a 3-2 vote last month. Mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez, the plaintiff in the case, filed the lawsuit on June 30 and argued that only voters could authorize a change in election dates.
- On July 21, a group of Wisconsin voters filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court alleging the state’s congressional districts violate the state constitution by discriminating against Democratic voters. Earlier this month, a group of Wisconsin business owners filed a similar lawsuit, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently declined to hear two other lawsuits asking the state to redraw congressional districts before the 2026 election.
- On July 17, the North Carolina State Board of Elections implemented new requirements for voters with information missing from their voter registration records. The new rules will require voters to use a provisional ballot if they fail to respond to notifications and do not provide the required identification, such as a driver’s license number, DMV number, or social security number.
Key movements
A look at what bills are moving and where.
Six bills were enacted in the past week. No bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, eight were enacted in 2023, and 10 were enacted in 2022. To see all enacted bills, click here.
- Oregon (Democratic trifecta)
Four bills passed both chambers of state legislatures. To see the full list of all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.
- California (Democratic trifecta)
- Ohio (Republican 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
Six 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 30 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 2,890 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: 430 (14.9%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,333 (46.1%)
- Republican: 1,062 (36.7%)
- Bipartisan: 327 (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.
