Republicans sponsored 130 (51%) of the 255 active bills this 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, legislative activity, and updates on notable lawsuits and policy changes.
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
- No bills have been approved since our last edition. Eighteen bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 16 in 2023 and 30 in 2022.
- State legislatures acted on 255 bills this week, three fewer than last week.
- Democrats sponsored 70 (27.5%) of the bills active over the past week, and Republicans sponsored 130 (51%) bills. Twenty-nine (11.4%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Twenty-six (10.2%) bills had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as nonpartisan lawmakers or committee sponsorship.
- Forty-nine (19.2%) bills are in states with Democratic trifectas, 116 (45.5%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 90 (35.3%) are in states with a divided government.
- One hundred thirty-nine bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted this week. Fourteen were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored eight. Fifty-one were in Republican trifectas, and of those, Republicans sponsored 34.
- The top bill topics this week were:
- Election types and contest-specific procedures (59)
- Voter registration and list maintenance (26)
- Ballot access (22)
- Absentee/mail-in voting (17)
- Audits and oversight (16)
- Election dates and deadlines (16)
Recent activity
Enacted bills
States did not approve any election-related bills since our last edition, compared to three in 2023 and eight in 2022 during the same period. To see all enacted bills, click here.
Bills that passed both chambers
Ten 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.
New Hampshire (Republican trifecta)
- NH HB154: Relative to electronic ballot counting devices.
South Dakota (Republican trifecta)
- SD HB1132: Revise certain provisions pertaining to municipal government.
- SD SB99: Modify provisions pertaining to applying for an absentee ballot application and to declare an emergency.
- SD SB18: Allow the secretary of state to share information from the statewide voter registration file.
- SD HB1130: Revise water development district boundaries.
- SD HB1182: Revise provisions pertaining to the observation of the conduct of an election.
Virginia (divided government)
- VA SB606: Voter registration; list maintenance, data sharing.
- VA SB196: Voter registration; list maintenance data standards, challenges to a voter’s registration.
- VA SB309: Smithfield, Town of; amending charter, municipal elections, repealing outdated provisions.
- VA SB475: Pulaski, Town of; amending charter, municipal elections.
Vetoed bills
There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023 or in 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
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 255 bills with activity this week, 49 (19.2%) bills are in states with Democratic trifectas, 116 (45.5%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 90 (35.3%) 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 18 bills so far this year, compared to 16 bills in 2023 and 30 bills in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
Seven of the election-related bills passed this year (38.9%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, eight (44.4%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and three (16.7%) 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 3,128 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, 957 (30.6%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 641 (20.5%) 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, 1,466 (46.9%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,094 (35%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 568 (18.2%) 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.
