Ballotpedia Launches Monthly "State of Election Administration Legislation" Update

MIDDLETON, Wis., Feb. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ballotpedia, the nation's premier resource for unbiased information on elections, politics, and policy, published its first "State of Election Administration Legislation Roundup" of 2024. This new, monthly report covers election-related legislative activity from all active state legislatures. In 2023, Ballotpedia produced two reports (mid-year and end-of-year) related to election administration legislation. This year, the monthly reports dive into the busiest states and the most consequential election administration issues, with an eye towards how policymakers are changing the administration of elections in their states.

More than 2,000 election-related bills have been introduced this year.

Here are some of the key findings published in our first monthly roundup:

• Fourteen new laws have been enacted in eight states—more than at the same point in 2022 and 2023.
• 45% of all bills have come from states with Democratic trifectas, while 39% have come from states with Republican trifectas.
• The most active topics so far are ranked-choice voting (RCV), voter registration, post-election audits, election dates, and noncitizen voting.

Read the report highlights here.

Overview of introduced legislation

Lawmakers have acted upon 2,055 election-related bills this year, with more bills introduced in Democratic trifectas than Republican trifectas and states with divided governments.

The most common topic among active bills in 2024 is voter registration (120), followed by municipal election procedures (109), ballot access for candidates (101 bills), and election dates (76). To learn more about Ballotpedia's election-related legislation topic categories, see here.

One hundred ninety-eight election-related bills have passed at least one chamber of a legislature this year. Legislators in Virginia have moved the most legislation (45 bills), followed by New York (29) and Georgia (19).

The most frequent topic of these bills is municipal election procedures, with 30 such bills, followed by ballot access for candidates (20 bills), and election dates (14).

Ranked-choice voting

Our report includes a deep dive into legislation on ranked-choice voting (RCV), voter registration, post-election audits, and changes to election dates. Here's a quick look at RCV legislation this year.

• Legislators in 11 states have introduced legislation that would ban ranked-choice voting in their states.
• Bills proposing to adopt or expand RCV outnumber prohibitions more than 2-to-1. Of the 95 currently active RCV bills, 60 allow or require a new use of RCV. That includes S1522 which would overturn Florida's existing ban on RCV, and bipartisan efforts in South Carolina (H4022) and Wisconsin (AB563).

For a deeper dive into RCV or for an overview of voter registration, post-election audits, and changes to election dates, please review the full report. 

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Ballotpedia–the encyclopedia of American politics–is the nation's most trusted source of unbiased information on politics, elections and policy. Founded in 2007, Ballotpedia has grown from a small group of dedicated volunteers working on a handful of ballot measures to an essential resource for voters, media and researchers. Ballotpedia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the public interest in creating an educated, engaged electorate, and building a strong, healthy democracy. For free access to 450,000+ encyclopedic, professionally authored and curated articles, visit ballotpedia.org.

SOURCE BALLOTPEDIA