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 28 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.

Weekly highlights

The big takeaways from the past week’s legislative actions. 

Lawmakers in seven states acted on 28 bills over the last week, one more than last week. Ten state legislatures are still in regular or special sessions. 

• Three bills were enacted this week. Five were enacted during the same week in 2024, three were enacted in 2023, and none were enacted in 2022.
• Legislators acted on 10 bills in 2024 and 36 in 2023 during the same week. 
• Nineteen of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, two are in states with Republican trifectas, and seven are in states with a divided government.  
• The most active bill categories this week were election types and contest-specific procedures (9), ballot verification (4), and redistricting (4). 
• We are currently following 4,814 bills. At this time in 2023, the last odd year when all states held legislative sessions, we were following 3,117 bills.

In the news

A glance at what’s making headlines in the world of election law.

• On Oct. 2, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed two election-related campaign finance bills into law. SB398 would prohibit anyone from offering money or other payment, including lottery entries or prize drawings, to induce someone to vote or register to vote. SB42 submits a ballot measure to voters on Nov. 3 that, if approved, would provide for a public campaign financing system and prohibit foreign entities from making contributions in connection with ballot measures.
• On Oct. 1, a U.S. district court in El Paso, Texas, began hearing arguments in a challenge to the state’s redrawn congressional district maps. The NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sued the state in August, arguing that the new maps are unconstitutional, in addition to being racially gerrymandered and violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
• On Sept. 30, a U.S. district court judge rejected a challenge to North Carolina’s Senate district map. Two North Carolina voters filed the lawsuit in 2023, arguing that the map diluted the voting power of Black voters. U.S. District Judge James Dever, a President George W. Bush (R) appointee, said that because of the “paucity of contemporary evidence of intentional discrimination concerning the right to vote against Black voters, the court gives plaintiff’s evidence little weight.”
• On Sept. 29, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Republican legislators can challenge Proposition 211, a ballot measure voters approved 72% to 28% in 2022. The law requires candidates to disclose the sources of political donations of more than $50,000 for statewide candidates and more than $25,000 for local candidates. 

Key movements

A look at what bills are moving and where. 

Three bills were enacted in the past week. Five bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, three were enacted in 2023, and none were enacted in 2022. To see all enacted bills, click here.

• California (Democratic trifecta)
  • CA SB398
  • CA SB42

• Missouri (Republican trifecta)
  • MO HB1

Fifteen bills passed both chambers of a state legislature. To see the full list of all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.

• California (Democratic trifecta)
  • CA AB827
  • CA AB1513
  • CA AB1411
  • CA AB1249
  • CA AB1511
  • CA SB3
  • CA AB1079
  • CA AB1392
  • CA AB1441
  • CA AB16
  • CA AB699
  • CA AB789
  • CA AB808

• Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)]
  • MA H4531
  • MA H4158

No bills were vetoed in the past week. Seventy 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

Three 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 40 weeks of each year.

All bills

We are following 4,814 election-related bills this year, including bills carried over from the previous year. 

• Trifecta status
  • Democratic: 1,779 (36.9%)
  • Republican: 2,242 (46.6%) 
  • Divided: 793 (16.5%) 

• Partisan sponsorship
  • Democratic: 1,856 (38.6%)
  • Republican: 2,331 (48.4%)
  • Bipartisan: 402 (8.4%)
  • Other: 224 (4.7%)

We were following 3,117 bills at this point in 2023. Below is a breakdown of those bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.

• Trifecta status
  • Democratic: 1,577 (50.6%)
  • Republican: 1,057 (33.9%) 
  • Divided: 483 (15.5%) 

• Partisan sponsorship
  • Democratic: 1,430 (45.9%)
  • Republican: 1,157 (37.1%)
  • Bipartisan: 352 (11.3%)
  • Other: 178 (5.7%)

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.