Tagelections

Texas set to become ninth state to withdraw from ERIC, Arizona’s possible withdrawal vetoed by Gov. Hobbs (D)

By Joseph Greaney
In State
June 6, 2023 at 12:01 PM

Texas lawmakers sent SB1070 to Gov. Greg Abbot (R) on May 29, 2023, positioning the state to become the eighth to withdraw from ERIC this year, and the ninth overall. Elsewhere, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed SB1135 on May 26, a bill including provisions that would have effectively withdrawn Arizona from ERIC.

ERIC is a multi-state voter list maintenance organization, initially established in 2012 by a group of chief election officials from seven states. At its height, 33 states were participating members in ERIC. 

ERIC says that its mission is “to assist states in improving the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increasing access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.” States that join ERIC agree to share their voter registration and licensing and identification data from motor vehicle departments every 60 days. ERIC then compiles this data and subsequently releases a series of voter list maintenance reports.

Beginning in 2022, election officials in several states resigned their states’ membership in the organization. Officials in these states said concerns about protecting personal data, partisanship, and strategic disagreements contributed to their resignations.

The efforts in Arizona and Texas to withdraw those states from participation in ERIC are unique because they were the first possible withdrawals driven by state legislation. Decisions in the eight other states that withdrew from ERIC were made by a state’s chief election official independent of legislatures.

The Texas State Senate approved SB1070 by a vote of 26-4 on April 12, and the Texas House of Representatives passed the bill 85-61 on May 23. The bill was sent to Gov. Greg Abbot (R) for signature on May 29.

The Texas Republican Party, which supported the state’s withdrawal from ERIC, said of SB1070 that “The ERIC membership agreement collects an extensive amount of personally identifiable information and data related to elections going far beyond the requirements of our Interstate Crosscheck Program.” Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) said “We wouldn’t want to give folks the impression that we’re making some radical change in the law. We’re restoring the law to where it was two years ago.” Rep. Chris Turner (D) said that the effort to resign from ERIC was based on a conspiracy theory and, “That’s why I don’t understand why we have this bill before us, particularly when we know the data shows that ERIC has helped Texas identify duplicate registrations, and that’s exactly what we should be trying to do.”

The Arizona State Senate approved SB1135 by a vote of 16-13 on March 21, and the Arizona House of Representatives passed the bill 31-27 on May 15. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed the bill on May 26.

Advocates for SB1135 said the bill would not require Arizona to withdraw from ERIC, only to stop participating in certain activities required of ERIC members. Sen. John Kavanagh (R), who introduced the bill, said of Arizona’s continued participation if SB1135 were enacted that, “It would be up to ERIC.” Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D) said of the effort, “It’s a little baffling that we now seek to remove access to that tool which is helpful in maintaining current and up-to-date voter rolls.”

Additional reading:



New Jersey statewide primary to be held June 6

By Mercedes Yanora
In State
May 19, 2023 at 1:01 PM

The statewide primary election for New Jersey is on June 6, 2023. The filing deadline to run was on March 27. Candidates are running in elections for the following offices: 

  • New Jersey State Senate
  • New Jersey General Assembly
  • Ballotpedia is also covering local elections in the following areas:
    • Essex County
    • Hudson County

Candidates are competing to advance to the general election scheduled for Nov. 7, 2023. 

New Jersey utilizes a semi-closed primary process, in which the selection of a party’s candidates in an election is generally limited to registered party members. Unaffiliated voters can register as party members at the polls on primary election day. Otherwise, a voter must indicate his or her party preference (e.g., via an updated voter registration) no later than the 55th day preceding the primary in order to vote in that party’s primary.

New Jersey’s statewide primary is the seventh to take place in the 2023 election cycle. The next primary is on June 20 in Virginia. 


Additional reading: 



Enactment rate of single-topic versus omnibus-style election bills on par with 2022

By Joseph Greaney
In State
May 17, 2023 at 1:40 PM

The percentage of all enacted election-related bills dealing with single or multiple topics has stayed consistent from 2022 to 2023. As of May 2023, 53.5% of enacted bills address a single topic (61 of 114 bills), compared to 55.6% (158 of 284) of bills enacted by the end of 2022. Enactment of omnibus-style election bills, which we define here as bills addressing five or more topics, is similar to last year. Omnibus bills comprise 7% of bills enacted this year (eight of 114) compared to 9.2% (26 of 284) at the end of 2022, and 8% (nine of 113) of enacted bills as of the same date last year.

So far in 2023, 64.8% of all election-related bills address a single topic, 3.8% are omnibus bills, and 0.78% (19 bills) contain provisions related to 10 or more categories. Last year, 61.7% of all election-related legislation were single-topic bills, 4.8% were omnibus bills, and just 19 bills (0.73%) addressed 10 or more topics. 

In 2022 and 2023, Republican-trifecta states have enacted more omnibus election bills than states with divided governments or Democratic trifectas, and Republican lawmakers have sponsored more enacted election omnibus bills across all states. Republican trifecta states have enacted six of this year’s eight enacted omnibus election bills, while at the same point in 2022, Republican trifecta states had enacted seven of nine omnibus bills nationwide. At the end of 2022 legislative sessions, Republicans had sponsored 14 of the 26 enacted bills that address five or more topics, while Democrats sponsored five, four were introduced by a committee of the legislature, and three had bipartisan sponsorship. 

New Mexico’s HB4 and Utah’s HB0448, both enacted earlier this year, provide examples of omnibus election legislation.

New Mexico’s HB4, among other changes, expands the roster of state agencies that provide automatic voter registration services, restores voting rights to people convicted of a felony who have completed any required prison time, and defines who may return another voter’s absentee ballot. 

Utah’s HB0448, among other changes, authorizes the lieutenant governor to establish audit requirements and procedures, provides new guidelines and time frames for voter list maintenance, and mandates training for election employees and volunteers. 

Seventy-three bills addressing five or more topics are still under consideration, while 1,266 single-topic bills and 543 bills that address two-to-four topics remain active in 2023 regular legislative sessions. 

Ballotpedia’s comprehensive Election Administration Legislation Tracker is the basis for the data and analysis in this report. This user-friendly tracker covers thousands of election-related bills in state legislatures and organizes them by topic with neutral, expert analysis from Ballotpedia’s election administration researchers. We assessed whether each bill addresses a single or multiple topics by tagging them with one of 92 tags, organized into 23 broader subject areas. For more information on these subject category tags, click here.

See also:



33 candidates filed for federal and statewide offices last week

By Elisabeth Moore
In 2023 elections, 2024 elections, Federal, State
May 2, 2023 at 12:28 PM

Thirty-three people declared candidacies for federal or state offices in the past week, seven fewer than the 40 that declared the week before. All of these candidates declared before their state’s official filing deadline.

Eighteen of the 33 candidates are Democrats, while 14 are Republicans. One is a minor party candidate.

Twenty-seven candidates are running for Congress, three for state legislatures, two filed for governorships, and one filed for a lower state executive office. 

Since the beginning of this year, Ballotpedia has identified 575 declared candidates for federal and statewide offices. At this time in 2021, Ballotpedia had identified 882 declared candidates for 2022, 2023, and 2024 races.

An official candidate is someone who registers with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline or appears on candidate lists released by government election agencies. A declared candidate is someone who has not completed the steps to become an official candidate but who might have done one or more of the following:

  • Appeared in candidate forums or debates
  • Published a campaign website
  • Published campaign social media pages
  • Advertised online, on television, or through print
  • Issued press releases
  • Interviewed with media publications

For more on Ballotpedia’s definition of candidacy, click here.



Utah in the top-three for rate of election policy legislation enactment for second straight year

By Joseph Greaney
In Ballot measures
May 1, 2023 at 9:51 AM

Utah is among the top three states enacting the highest percentage of their introduced election-related legislation for the second year in a row. It is the only state among the top three in 2022 and 2023. Utah lawmakers enacted 12 of the 29 election-related bills (41.4%) introduced in 2023 and nine of 18 in 2022 (50%). Republicans were the sole sponsors of all but two of these bills. Utah is a Republican trifecta. 

Joining Utah in the top three states in terms of bill enactment so far this year are Arkansas (45% of introduced election bills enacted) and South Dakota (42.1%), both of which are also Republican trifecta states. The most common topic of enacted bills in these states is counting and canvassing procedures (6 bills), followed by audits (5 bills). In 2022, Colorado (50%) and Connecticut (50%), both Democratic trifectas, rounded out the top three. 

The most common topics of enacted legislation in Utah from both years were:

  • Ballot access for candidates (5 bills).
  • Counting and canvassing procedures (4 bills).
  • Audits, ballot measures (initiative and referendum), voter ID for absentee/mail-in ballots, signature matching, vacancy procedures, enforcement against non-officials, absentee/mail-in voter assistance, cybersecurity, and physical security (3 bills each).  

In Utah’s 2023 legislative session, whose regular session ended on March 3, the most commonly enacted bill topics were signature matching, and absentee/mail-in voter assistance (3 bills each). In 2022 it was ballot access for candidates (4 bills). 

An example of a bill about ballot access for candidates is 2022’s SB0170 which, among other provisions, established a new filing period for candidates of a qualified political party to be elected at the next general election. 

An example of a signature matching bill is 2023’s HB0037. This bill established a new signature matching requirement for absentee ballots. The change requires poll workers to verify that a signature is “reasonably consistent with the individual’s signature in the voter registration records” or verifiable by other means before determining that a mailed ballot shall be canvassed. This bill also requires election officers to establish a method of accessible voting to a voter with a disability who cannot vote by mail, providing an example of legislation addressing absentee/mail-in voter assistance. 

An example of counting and canvassing procedures is 2022’s HB0264 which describes the voting process and determining winners in an alternate voting methods race depending on the voting method selected by a municipality participating in the state’s Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project. The Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project is a program established by the Utah legislature through HB35 in 2018 that allows municipalities to adopt ranked-choice voting for local elections. 

Ballotpedia Legislation Tracker



40 candidates filed for federal and statewide offices last week

By Elisabeth Moore
In 2023 elections, 2024 elections, Federal, State
April 25, 2023 at 11:39 AM

Ballotpedia identified 40 declared candidates for federal and statewide offices over the previous week. All of these candidates declared prior to their state’s official filing deadline.

That number is seven more than the number of candidates processed the previous week (33). Seventeen of those candidates were Democratic, while 19 were Republican. Four were third-party.

Of those candidates, 34 filed for Congress, four filed for state legislatures, one filed for governorship, and one filed for a lower state executive office. 

Since the beginning of 2023, Ballotpedia has processed 542 declared candidates for federal and statewide offices.

Each week, Ballotpedia processes declared candidacy for all elected federal and state offices. We process both official and declared candidates.

An official candidate is someone who registers with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline or appears on candidate lists released by government election agencies. A declared candidate is someone who has not completed the steps to become an official candidate but who might have done one or more of the following:

  • Appeared in candidate forums or debates
  • Published a campaign website
  • Published campaign social media pages
  • Advertised online, on television, or through print
  • Issued press releases
  • Interviewed with media publications

For more on Ballotpedia’s definition of candidacy, click here.



Absentee/mail-in ballot return deadlines in 2023 elections

By Roneka Matheny
In State
April 11, 2023 at 11:01 AM

Eight states—Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington—are holding statewide elections this year. Rules governing who can return completed absentee/mail-in ballots vary by state. Absentee/mail-in voting is voting that does not happen in person on Election Day but instead occurs another way, usually by mail. All states allow for some form of absentee/mail-in voting.

For example, in Mississippi and 12 other states, there are state laws specifically listing the individuals who are allowed to return a voter’s completed ballot. Typically, those individuals include the voter’s family members or caregivers, U.S. postal workers, and election officials. Completed absentee/mail-in ballots must be postmarked or mailed by Election Day in Mississippi for the primary, general, and runoff elections.

In Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and 20 other states, voters are allowed to choose the person they want to return their completed ballot. Typically, this person is required to sign a statement confirming that they have authorization to return the ballot on behalf of the voter. However, in Pennsylvania, the voter is the one who signs a statement authorizing someone else to return the ballot.

Louisiana is the only state holding statewide elections this year that requires completed absentee/mail-in ballots to be received before Election Day. In order to be counted, these ballots must be received by Louisiana election officials at least one day prior to the primary and general elections. Kentucky, New Jersey, and Virginia require completed absentee/mail-in ballots to be received by each Election Day. Pennsylvania requires these ballots to be postmarked by each Election Day instead.

The table below shows the absentee/mail-in return deadlines for statewide primary and general elections this year:



Amendment to require direct partisan primary elections will be decided by Arizona voters in 2024

By Nicole Fisher
In 2024 elections, Ballot measures
April 5, 2023 at 11:04 AM

Voters in Arizona will decide on a constitutional amendment to require that direct partisan primaries be conducted in a way that allows political parties to nominate a candidate or candidates (in multi-seat districts) for the general election. The amendment wouldn’t change the current process but could preempt top-four primaries, as seen in Alaska, or other types of primary elections in which every candidate, regardless of party affiliation, runs in the same primary. It would also say that a legislature-enacted direct primary election law supersedes any other law or ordinance. Voters will decide on the amendment at the November general election in 2024.

According to Rep. Austin Smith (R), who sponsored the bill, the amendment is part of a legislative proposal to preempt ranked-choice voting. He said, “[The amendment] will now be placed on the ballot in 2024 for the voters of Arizona to decide to amend Arizona’s Constitution even more and make it more clearer that we prohibit ranked-choice voting in this state. This is a huge accomplishment for conservatives and for Republicans … as long as I’m in this legislature, and as long as Republicans are here, we are going to continue to protect Arizona’s primary election system.”

The Arizona State Senate passed the amendment, House Concurrent Resolution 2033 (HCR2033), by 16-13 on March 28, 2023. All 16 Republicans voted to pass the amendment, while 13 Democrats voted against it. Previously, the Arizona House of Representatives passed the amendment on March 1 by 31-28, with all 31 Republicans voting for it and 28 Democrats voting against it.

The Arizona House of Representatives also passed House Bill 2552 (HB2552), which, if passed by the Senate and signed by the governor, would prohibit ranked-choice voting under state law.

Heritage Action, a conservative policy advocacy group, supported the passage of the amendment and bill. Heritage Action said, “The ranked-choice voting scheme upends the democratic process and fundamentally changes the way elections operate, leaving voters confused, disenfranchised, and left with unpopular candidates who do not properly represent them … these bills would maintain election integrity by outlawing ranked-choice voting, ensuring direct elections, and affirming that the most popular candidates are declared the winners.”

Ranked-choice voting may appear on the ballot as an initiative proposed by the nonprofit group Save Democracy Arizona. The nonprofit is working with a group called Voter Choice Arizona to potentially circulate a petition that would enact ranked-choice voting in Arizona. Save Democracy Arizona said, “A partisan election system that creates barriers to participation and treats certain voters and candidates differently – particularly independents or those who choose not to affiliate with a party is surely not a system that works for every Arizonan. Arizona’s current partisan primary  provides taxpayer funds to private political party activities and excludes registered unaffiliated candidates from participating in the primary election.”

Currently, Alaska and Maine are the only states that have implemented ranked-choice voting for federal and/or state-level elections. Eleven states contain jurisdictions that have implemented ranked-choice voting at the local level. Most recently, Nevada voters approved an amendment that would implement ranked-choice voting; however, voters in Nevada need to approve the measure again in 2024 before the constitutional amendment can be ratified.

Additional reading:



23 candidates filed for federal and statewide offices last week

By Elisabeth Moore
In 2024 elections
April 3, 2023 at 11:06 AM

Ballotpedia identified 23 declared candidates for federal and statewide offices over the previous week. All of these candidates declared prior to their state’s official filing deadline. That number is 14 more than the number of candidates processed the previous week (nine). Thirteen of those candidates were Democratic, while six were Republican. Four were third-party candidates.

Of those candidates, 16 filed for Congress, six filed for state legislatures, and one filed for a lower state executive office. 

Each week, Ballotpedia processes declared candidacy for all elected federal and state offices. We process both official and declared candidates.

An official candidate is someone who registers with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline or appears on candidate lists released by government election agencies. A declared candidate is someone who has not completed the steps to become an official candidate but who might have done one or more of the following:

  • Appeared in candidate forums or debates
  • Published a campaign website
  • Published campaign social media pages
  • Advertised online, on television, or through print
  • Issued press releases
  • Interviewed with media publications

For more on Ballotpedia’s definition of candidacy, click here.



What to expect in Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election

By Juan Garcia de Paredes
In State
March 31, 2023 at 12:00 PM

Janet Protasiewicz and Daniel Kelly are running in the nonpartisan general election for Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 4, 2023. The elections are officially nonpartisan, but justices and candidates are often considered to be liberal or conservative. The current court is considered to have a 4-3 conservative majority. With Justice Patience Roggensack — a member of the court’s conservative majority — retiring, the general election will determine ideological control of the court. 

In the four-candidate primary in February, liberal candidate Protasiewicz and conservative Kelly advanced to the general election after receiving 46.5% and 24.2% of the primary vote, respectively. Together, Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell — the other liberal candidate in the race — received 53.9% of the vote, while Kelly and Jennifer Dorow — the other conservative — received a combined 46.1%.

Looking at the previous three state supreme court primaries, the combined share of the vote liberal and conservative candidates received in the primary indicated the general election’s outcome in 2018. That year, liberal candidates Rebecca Dallet and Tim Burns received a combined 53.7% of the primary vote, while conservative Michael Screnock received 46.5%. Dallet defeated Screnock 55.7% to 44.2% in the general election. 

However, the 2020 and 2016 primaries did not indicate the general election results. 

In 2020, Kelly, then an incumbent, received more than 50% of the vote in the primary, while the two liberal candidates — Jill Karofsky and Ed Fallone — received a combined vote total of 49.9%. Karofsky defeated Kelly 55% to 45% in the general election. 

In 2016, liberal candidates JoAnn Kloppenburg and Joe Donald received a combined total of 55% of the vote in the primary, while conservative Rebecca Bradley received 45%. Bradley defeated Kloppenburg 52% to 47% in the general. 

Turnout in state supreme court primaries in Wisconsin has been increasing in recent years, and the Feb. 21 primary was no exception. Nearly 21% of the voting-age population voted in this year’s primary, the highest turnout in a decade.

In 2020, 16% of the voting-age population voted in the primary, while in 2018, nearly 12% of the voting-age population did. In 2016, less than 13% of the voting-age population voted in the primary, and in 2013, only around 8% did. There were no primaries in 2015 or 2019. 

Primary turnout can be a useful indicator of voter interest in a race, but it does not necessarily predict turnout in the general election. Turnout in the 2016 primary, for example, was lower than in the 2020 primary and less than 1% higher than in 2018. Still, turnout in the2016 general election was a record-breaking 44% of the voting-age population, considerably higher than the 34% turnout in the 2020 general election, and almost twice the 22.3% turnout in 2018.

The presence of other races on the ballot can affect turnout and vote share in the general election compared to the primary. The 2016 Supreme Court general election coincided with competitive presidential primaries for both the Republican and Democratic parties, for example, likely increasing turnout in the general election vs. the primary. The 2020 general election coincided with the competitive 2020 Democratic presidential primary, but there was no competitive Republican primary that year. Turnout for the liberal candidate increased more than turnout for the conservative candidate in the general election that year. 

There are no presidential primaries in 2023, but the general election ballot will include three ballot questions, including a state constitutional amendment that would increase the discretion judges have to impose cash bail on people accused of violent crimes. According to NBC’s Sam Edelman, the presence of that amendment on the ballot could affect the turnout for the supreme court election. 

Wisconsin has a divided government. The governor is Democrat Tony Evers, while the Republican Party controls both chambers of the state legislature. Wisconsin, along with Pennsylvania, is one of two states holding elections for state supreme court in 2023.