Election Reform Update: 2025 is shaping up to be another year of significant activity related to changing election laws and voting policies in state legislatures

MIDDLETON, Wis., March 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ballotpedia today released its "State of Election Administration Legislation 2025 Spring Report," covering all current U.S. election-related legislative activity in 2025 state legislative sessions.

That's 3,505 election-related bills and resolutions*, which is nearing the total for 2023 and 2024 and surpassing 2022.

Every state handles elections differently, making tracking election-related legislation inherently complex. Election rules vary widely among states because they, rather than the federal government, play the primary role in creating policy on election administration. State legislatures and ballot measures create many of the rules governing ballot access, voter registration, and vote counting.

Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker, the source for the spring 2025 report, cuts through this complexity by providing a clear, comprehensive view of election policy developments across the country. The tracker is designed to be accessible, factual, and timely, giving users the necessary information without partisan framing or unnecessary complications. Since its creation, 12,071 bills have been added to this tracker.

As in previous years, Republican lawmakers and states with a Republican trifecta drive most of this activity. This trend reflects their advantage in legislative control—they hold 55.7% of state legislative seats and 23 trifectas compared to 15 for Democrats.

So far in 2025, Republican lawmakers have led efforts to:

• Require proof of citizenship for voter registration,
• End automatic or no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting,
• Ban ranked-choice voting (RCV), and
• Modify the ballot initiative process by increasing signature requirements for ballot access and raising vote thresholds for amendments.

Democratic lawmakers and states with Democratic trifectas remain active as well.

Democratic lawmakers efforts focus on:

• Expanding same-day and automatic voter registration,
• Mailing absentee/mail-in ballot request forms automatically and increasing the availability of drop boxes, and
• Authorizing new uses of RCV.

While election law changes can be contentious, lawmakers have still found common ground. Bipartisan efforts have advanced legislation to:

• Revise ballot access rules for candidates,
• Increase voter list maintenance activities, and,
• Update ballot counting procedures to speed up election results.

*Unless otherwise noted, all figures are as of March 11, 2025.

To view the full report, please visit Ballotpedia's website. 

About Ballotpedia Legislation Trackers
Ballotpedia's legislation trackers provide a free (no login or sign-up required) and centralized hub that makes staying on top of legislation and legislative reforms across all 50 states easier than ever. Founded on Ballotpedia's hallmark principle of being neutral on the issues, but passionate about the facts, our legislation trackers are updated in real time and designed to be easily searchable. Used as a go-to resource for voters, reporters, researchers, academics, and activists, they capture any bill introduced on the given topic across all of the 50-state legislatures, and track bill movement every step of the way.

About Ballotpedia
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 600,000+ encyclopedic, professionally authored, and curated articles, visit Ballotpedia.org.

SOURCE BALLOTPEDIA