The Ballot Bulletin: Ballotpedia’s Weekly Digest on Election Administration, July 12, 2024

Of the 111 bills with activity over the previous two weeks, 92 (82.9%) are in states with Democratic trifectas.

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 111 bills state legislatures acted on since our last edition.

Legislative highlights

• Seventeen bills have been approved since our last edition. Three hundred forty-three bills have been enacted so far in 2024, compared to 551 in 2023 and 198 in 2022.
• State legislatures acted on 48 bills this week, 22 fewer than last week.

• Democrats sponsored 70 (63.1%) of the bills active over the past two weeks, and Republicans sponsored 25 (22.5%) bills. Fifteen (13.5%) bills had bipartisan sponsorship, and one bill (0.9%) had sponsors other than Democrats or Republicans, such as committees or nonpartisan legislators.
• Ninety-two (82.9%) of the bills active over the past two weeks are in states with Democratic trifectas, seven (6.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 12 (10.8%) are in states with a divided government.
• Thirty-three bills passed one or both chambers or were enacted during the past two weeks. Fifty-three were in Democratic trifectas, and of those, Democrats sponsored 46. Seven were in states with a Republican trifecta, and of those, four were Republican-sponsored.
• The top bill topics this week were:

1. Enforcement and election fraud (3)
2. Election types and contest-specific procedures (2)
3. Legal conflicts and litigation (2)
4. Counting and certification (1)
5. Election dates and deadlines (1)

Recent activity

Enacted bills

States approved seventeen election-related bills since our last edition, compared to 26 in 2023 and seven in 2022 during the same week. To see all enacted bills, click here.

California (Democratic trifecta)

• CA AB440: Ballot measures.

Florida (Republican trifecta)

• FL H0897: Dorcas Fire District, Okaloosa County

Hawaii (Democratic trifecta)

• HI SB2687: Relating To Elections.
• HI SB2240: Relating To Elections.
• This bill directs the Hawaii Office of Elections to apply to join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) by June 30, 2025, and use the services offered by ERIC for verifying voter registration rolls. See our Daily Brew coverage of the bill here.

• HI HB1916: Relating To The Disclosure Of Personal Information Associated With Certain Public Servants.

North Carolina (divided government)

• NC H593: Various General Local Laws
• NC H1064: Various Local Provisions III
• NC S912: Elections Changes for Watauga Ed & County Bds
• NC H1074: Constitutional Amendment/Citizens-Only Voting
• NC S607: Regulatory Reform Act of 2024

Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)

• RI H7662: Allows non-affiliated party voters to vote in party primaries, without becoming an affiliated party voter.
• RI H7849: Requires mail ballot drop boxes to be opened thirty-five (35) days prior to election day, and twenty (20) days prior to special elections.
• RI H8304: Changes the meeting of presidential electors from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election to the first Tuesday.
• RI S2780: Requires mail ballot drop boxes to be opened thirty-five (35) days prior to election day, and twenty (20) days prior to special elections.
• RI S3059: Changes the meeting of presidential electors from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election to the first Tuesday.
• RI S3097: AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF NORTH KINGSTOWN TO ISSUE NOT MORE THAN $137,200,000 OF BONDS AND NOTES FOR CONSTRUCTION, IMPROVEMENT, RENOVATION, DEMOLITION, REMEDIATION, FURNISHING, EQUIPPING AND OTHER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OF SCHOOL FACILITIES THROUGHOUT THE TOWN, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO A NEW WICKFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL
• RI H8299: AUTHORIZING THE TOWN OF NORTH KINGSTOWN TO ISSUE NOT MORE THAN $137,200,000 OF BONDS AND NOTES FOR CONSTRUCTION, IMPROVEMENT, RENOVATION, DEMOLITION, REMEDIATION, FURNISHING, EQUIPPING AND OTHER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS OF SCHOOL FACILITIES THROUGHOUT THE TOWN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, A NEW WICKFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL

Bills that passed both chambers

Fifteen 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.

California (Democratic trifecta)

• CA AB3197: Elections.
• CA AB2582: Elections omnibus bill.

Delaware (Democratic trifecta)

• DE HB293: An Act To Amend Title 15 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Elections.
• DE SB298: An Act To Amend The Charter Of The Town Of Newport.
• DE HB396: An Act To Amend The Charter Of The Town Of Delmar Relating To Nominations And Elections And The Power To Borrow Money And Issue Bonds.
• DE HB357: An Act To Amend Title 6, Title 10, Title 11, And Title 24 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Weapons.
• DE SB316: An Act To Amend The Charter Of The Town Of Slaughter Beach Relating To Annexation

Michigan (Democratic trifecta)

• MI SB0603: Elections: recounts; recount process and recount filing fees; modify, modify the ballot canvassing deadlines under certain circumstances and require an expedited ballot canvass under certain circumstances. Amends secs. 2, 822, 825, 827, 828, 842, 861, 862, 863, 865, 866, 867, 868, 869, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, 876, 878, 879, 880, 880a, 881, 882, 883, 884, 887, 888, 889, 890 & 892 of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.2 et seq.); adds secs. 861a & 883a & repeals secs. 871a, 877, 885, 886 & 891 of 1954 PA
• MI SB0604: Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for certain Michigan election law violations dealing with recounts; modify. Amends sec. 11d, ch. XVII of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 777.11d). TIE BAR WITH: SB 0603’23

New Hampshire (Republican trifecta)

• NH HB1310: Relative to meetings of supervisors of the checklist.
• NH HB1126: Relative to candidate requests for absentee ballot information.
• NH HB1569: Relative to eliminating voter identification exceptions.
• NH SB576: Relative to reporting the death of voters.

New Jersey (Democratic trifecta)

• NJ S2837: Authorizes school districts to submit separate proposals for additional spending for subsequent budget year at special school election.

Rhode Island (Democratic trifecta)

• RI S3118: Totally repeals the 1964 public law, which established the Johnston Municipal Court and which has never been amended and would enable the town of Johnston to establish a municipal court and housing court with expanded legal and equitable powers.

Vetoed bills

There have been no gubernatorial vetoes since our last edition. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2023, and one was vetoed in 2022. Governors have vetoed 32 bills so far this year, compared to 34 at this point in 2023 and 17 at this point 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 over the past week. 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 111 bills with activity over the previous two weeks, 92 (82.9%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, seven (6.3%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 12 (10.8%) 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 343 bills so far this year, compared to 551 bills in 2023 and 198 in 2022. The chart below shows the number and partisan sponsorship of enacted bills in 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Seventy-four of the election-related bills passed this year (21.6%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 214 (62.4%) are in states with a Republican trifecta, and 55 (16%) 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 3,761 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, 1,143 (30%) are Democrat-sponsored bills in Democratic trifecta states. Republicans sponsored 798 (21%) 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, 1,761 (46.8%) are in states with Democratic trifectas, 1,357 (36.1%) are in states with Republican trifectas, and 643 (17.1%) 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.