ICYMI: Top stories of the week

Arizona State Legislature refers 11 measures to the general election ballot, most since 1984

The Arizona State Legislature adjourned earlier this month, referring 11 measures to the ballot—five state statutes and six constitutional amendments. This is the most legislatively referred measures on the ballot since 1984, when 13 measures were on the ballot. The following are the legislatively referred measures on the 2024 Arizona ballot:

Ballotpedia launches Artificial Intelligence Deepfake Legislation Tracker

Deepfakes, an offshoot of artificial intelligence (AI), have become a pressing social and political issue that an increasing number of state lawmakers are trying to address through legislation. The number of bills has increased 950% in 2024.

That’s why we’ve launched a comprehensive AI Deepfake Legislation Tracker. The goal of the tracker is simple: to let people know what’s happening—in real time—with deepfake legislation in all 50 states. The tracker covers topics such as:

• Political and election-related communications;
• Pornographic and child sexual abuse material;
• Fraud and extortion; and
• Property rights.

Check out your state’s bills at the link below.

As spring turns into summer, Ballotpedia’s battleground primary coverage is heating up

Ballotpedia has already covered 65 primary elections as battlegrounds this year, and we’ve identified another 50 from now until September. The states with the most upcoming battleground primaries is Florida (five), followed by Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, and Missouri with four each.

Some of our spotlighted races include:

To learn more about the battleground elections we’ve already covered and the ones we’re covering the rest of this cycle, click the link below.

Montana campaign submits signatures for initiative to provide a constitutional right to abortion

Montanans for Securing Reproductive Rights filed roughly 117,000 signatures on June 21—of which 60,359 valid signatures are required—for an initiative that would provide a state constitutional right to abortion. County clerks have until July 19 to verify the signatures and submit them to the secretary of state’s office.

The initiative states that “there is a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion.” The state would be permitted to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except “to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”