State legislatures acted on 138 bills this week, 115 fewer than last week.
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.
We want to hear from you! Click here to take a short survey letting us know what you like about The Ballot Bulletin and how we can improve our coverage of election-related legislation.
Legislative highlights
- Thirteen bills have been approved since our last edition. One hundred fifty-eight bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 206 in 2023 and 111 in 2022.
- State legislatures acted on 138 bills this week, 115 fewer than last week.
- Democrats sponsored 60 (43.5%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 59 (42.8%) bills. Twelve (8.7%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Seven (5.1%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship.
- Forty-two (30.4%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 71 (51.4%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 25 (18.1%) are in states with a divided government.
- Sixty-five bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Nineteen were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 13. Thirty-three were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 28.
- The top bill topics this week were:
- Election types and contest-specific procedures (26)
- Election dates and deadlines (12)
- Absentee/mail-in voting (11)
- Voter registration and list maintenance (9)
- Audits and oversight (7)
- Ballot access (7)
- Election officials and workers (7)
Recent activity
Enacted bills
States approved 13 election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 24 in 2023 and nine in 2022 during the same period. To see all enacted bills, click here.
California (Democratic trifecta)
- CA AR89: Relative to High School Voter Education Weeks.
Kentucky (divided government)
- KY HB779: AN ACT relating to digital precinct boundary requirements.
- KY HB449: AN ACT relating to local boards of education.
Massachusetts (Democratic trifecta)
- MA S2544: Relative to polling locations in the city of Gloucester
Mississippi (Republican trifecta)
- MS SB2425: Ballot harvesting; define terms.
Tennessee (Republican trifecta)
- TN HB1794: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act.
- TN HB2391: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to voting.
Virginia (divided government)
- VA SB364: Elections; protection of election officials, penalty.
- VA HB111: President and Vice President; binding of electors, filling vacancies.
West Virginia (Republican government)
- WV HB5298: Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election
- WV SB159: Prohibiting persons convicted of certain crimes against minors from holding positions on boards of education
- WV SB166: Updating contested elections procedures
- WV HB4350: Relating to appointment of candidates after filing period
Bills that passed both chambers
Eighteen bills have passed both chambers since our last edition and await gubernatorial action. To see all bills that have currently passed both chambers, click here.
Arizona (divided government)
Florida (Republican trifecta)
- FL S1628: Local Government Actions
Hawaii (Democratic trifecta)
- HI HB1879: Relating To The Digital Voter Information Guide.
Iowa (Republican trifecta)
- IA HF2466: A bill for an act relating to the administration of elections.
Kentucky (divided government)
- KY HB580: AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.
South Carolina (Republican trifecta)
- SC H5231: Bamberg County School District
Tennessee (Republican trifecta)
- TN HB0835: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-2-106 and Section 2-2-141, relative to election integrity.
- TN SB2587: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2 and Title 5, relative to voting equipment.
- TN SB2855: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 16, Chapter 2, relative to judicial districts.
- TN SB0145: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2; Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8, relative to elections.
- TN SB1706: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to county election commissions.
- TN SB2586: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to voter registration.
Virginia (divided government)
- VA SB188: Election of certain governing bodies; conversion to single-member districts.
- VA HB416: Virginia Beach, City of; amending charter, transition of city council.
- VA SB300: Voter registration; list maintenance activities, cancellation procedures, required record matches.
- VA SB196: Voter registration; list maintenance data standards, challenges to a voter’s registration.
- VA HB904: Voter registration; list maintenance activities, cancellation procedures, required record matches.
Vetoed bills
Governors have vetoed 11 bills since our last edition. Two bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and none were vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 20 bills so far this year, compared to nine at this point in 2023 and 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
Kansas (divided government)
- KS HB2618: Prohibiting the use of funds provided by the United States government for the conduct of elections and election-related activities unless approved by the legislature and requiring specific intent as an element of the crime of false representation of an election official.
- KS HB2614: Requiring county election officers to record the names of individuals delivering advance voting ballots on behalf of another voter and report violations of the laws governing such delivery and removing the requirement to specify the treasurer of a sponsoring organization in political advertising.
Mississippi (Republican trifecta)
- MS HB922: Election commissioner; revise office to be nonpartisan.
Virginia (divided government)
- VA HB1534: Voter or voter’s registration; challenges to candidate qualifications or eligibility.
- VA HB1408: Voter satellite offices; standards and guidelines for determining number and location.
- VA HB623: Rights of voters; covered practices, civil cause of action, standing, jurisdiction, and venue.
- VA SB428: Elections; ranked choice voting, locally elected offices.
- VA HB26: Voter identification; accepted forms of identification, private entities licensed or certified.
- VA HB939: Elections administration; prohibits possession of firearm within 100 feet of certain locations.
- VA SB606: Voter registration; list maintenance, data sharing.
- VA HB1177: Voter registration; list maintenance, data sharing.
Recent activity by topic and sponsorship
The chart below shows the topics and partisan sponsorship of the bills with legislative activity since our last edition. Click here to see a full list of bill categories and their definitions.
* Note: Contest-specific procedures refer to primary systems, municipal election procedures, recall elections, special election procedures, and other systems unique to a particular election type.
Recent activity by state and trifecta status
Of the 138 bills with activity this week, 42 (30.4%) of the bills active over the past week are in states with Democratic trifectas, 71 (51.4%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 25 (18.1%) are in states with a divided government.
The map below shows election-related bills acted on in the past week by state trifecta status.
All legislation
Enacted bills by sponsorship and trifecta status
States have enacted 158 bills so far this year, compared to 206 bills in 2023 and 111 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
Thirty-two of the election-related bills passed this year (20.3%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 87 (55.1%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 39 (24.7%) are in states with a divided government. The table below shows the number of enacted election-related bills introduced by trifecta status this year compared to 2023 and 2022.
All bills by topic and sponsorship
The chart below displays the topic and sponsorship of a sample of the 3,485 total bills we’ve followed this year. Note that the sums of the numbers listed do not equal the total number of bills because some bills deal with multiple topics.
All bills by sponsorship and trifecta status
Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1032 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 752 (22%) bills in states with Republican trifectas.
The chart below shows the percentage of all election-related bills by sponsorship and trifecta status.
All bills by state and trifecta status
Of all the election-related bills introduced this year, 1,608 (46.1%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,279 (36.7%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 598 (17.2%) 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 map below shows the number of election-related bills introduced by state and trifecta status this year.
