State of Election Administration Legislation 2025 Spring Report: Topics of note, Voter registration
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Absentee/mail-in voting • Early voting • Electoral systems • Voting rights for convicted felons • Private funding • Primary systems • Redistricting • Voter identification |
March 20, 2025
By Ballotpedia staff
Voter registration
More than 10% of all election-related legislation this year — 505 bills in 44 states — deals with voter registration. These bills propose changes to various aspects of the voter registration process, including establishing same-day registration, changing how elections officials verify an individual's eligibility at the time of registration, joining or leaving multistate voter list maintenance (VLM) data sharing compacts or other amendments to the list maintenance process, and more.
Same-day registration
Bills in two states with Democratic trifectas — A 925 / S 1193 in New Jersey and S 5752 in New York — would create same-day voter registration for most elections. Currently, the deadline to register to vote is 21 days before an election in New Jersey and 10 days before an election in New York. Both bills require a same-day applicant to provide identification and would allow same-day registration throughout the early voting period as well as on Election Day.
New Jersey and New York are two of six states with Democratic trifectas that do not have same-day registration. Twenty-one states offer same-day registration on Election Day, including nine where Democrats hold a trifecta, six where Republicans hold a trifecta, and six states with divided governments.
At least one bill in 2025 legislative sessions — LD 349 in Maine — would repeal same-day registration.
Documentary proof of citizenship requirements
In 2024, two states with a Republican trifecta — Louisiana and New Hampshire — adopted laws that require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Republican-sponsored bills in at least 19 states this year, including in 11 states where Republicans hold trifecta control and four states with divided governments, would create similar requirements:
Republican trifectas
- Indiana HB 1680 would require certain voter registration applicants to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days of receiving a notice from election officials. The Republican-backed bill passed the Indiana House of Representatives along party lines on February 11.
- Mississippi’s S 2633, which failed to advance, would have implemented proof of citizenship as a requirement to register and stipulated eligible documents.
- Missouri’s SB 62 requires proof of citizenship to register and was reported out of the state senate’s Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee with a favorable recommendation on February 24.
- Montana’s HB 286, which lawmakers held in committee, would have required applicants to provide proof of citizenship “in a manner prescribed by the secretary of state.”
- In Ohio HB 54, the states biennial transportation budget bill, a provision requires proof of citizenship to register to vote at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The legislation passed the legislature’s lower chamber unanimously on February 26.
- South Carolina’s S 128 is active in the state senate’s Judiciary Committee.
- South Dakota’s SB 48 is active in the state senate’s State Affairs Committee.
- Tennessee’s S 348 is active in the state senate’s State and Local Government Committee.
- In Texas HJR 49 would create a ballot initiative to amend the state’s constitution to require proof of citizenship for voter registration. Elsewhere in the state, SB 16 would adopt that requirement into statute. Both bills are in committee.
- Utah HB 332 passed the state’s lower chamber along party lines but failed to advance in the state senate before adjournment.
- In Wyoming, HB 156 awaits action by Gov. Mark Gordon (R) after advancing largely along party lines. All Democrats and a small group of Republicans voted against the bill in the legislature.
Divided governments
- Arizona HB 2038 would modify the state’s existing proof-of-citizenship requirement and require some already registered voters to provide citizenship documentation to election clerks or have their registration suspended. The Republican-sponsored bill passed the legislature’s lower chamber along party lines on February 25.
- Michigan HJR B proposes a constitutional amendment to require proof of citizenship. The bill is in committee.
- Democratic-sponsored 2091 in Kansas would notify benefits applicants at state agencies who also wish to register to vote at the time of application that proof of citizenship is required for voter registration. Kansas state law currently includes a proof-of-citizenship requirement, but the law has not been enforced since 2018.
- Pennsylvania’s H 284 is active in the chamber’s State Government Committee.
Every state requires applicants to provide either documentary proof of citizenship or to attest under penalty of perjury, or other sanction, that they are a citizen. In addition to Louisiana and New Hampshire, Alabama, Arizona , Kansas , and Georgia have documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements in state law. Only Arizona’s law is in effect, and only for state elections, after federal courts have limited enforcement of these requirements for federal elections. Click on each state above to read more about these laws and legal challenges.
Other bills in 2025, such as Oklahoma’s SB 659 and Idaho’s H 94, add new requirements for election officials to verify a voter registration applicant’s citizenship status but don’t explicitly require documentary proof of citizenship.
Separately, voters in at least one state will consider a ballot measure to clarify that noncitizens are not able to vote in any elections in the state after South Dakota lawmakers approved SJR 503. This comes after voters in eight states — Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin — approved legislatively referred constitutional amendments to do the same in 2024. The initiative in South Dakota will appear on the ballot in 2026. Several other legislatures, including in Arkansas, Kansas, and West Virginia, are considering similar resolutions.
Voter list maintenance
Last year, ten states adopted 18 new laws related to maintaining voter registration rolls, also known as voter list maintenance (VLM). So far in 2025, lawmakers are considering at least 141 VLM bills and resolutions, 75% of them with Republican sponsorship.
Several legislatures have considered changes related to multistate data sharing compacts, including legislation in at least four states with implications for membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a data sharing organization that describes itself as a tool to “help election officials maintain more accurate voter rolls and detect possible illegal voting.” Beginning with Louisiana in 2022, nine, mostly Republican-led states, have withdrawn from the organization. States with bills related to ERIC include:
- Arizona, where HB 2206 would create new rules related to participation in multistate data sharing groups, including requiring that an Arizona representative join the organization’s board of directors within 12 months of membership, and specifying what types of data the state may share. If enacted, the bill may create obstacles to Arizona’s continued participation in ERIC. On March 3, the bill passed the legislature's lower chamber with one Republican joining Democrats in voting against the bill.
- Georgia, a member of ERIC, where HB 215 would more clearly prohibit the state’s continued participation in the data sharing organization. The bill would explicitly prohibit membership in a multistate voter list maintenance organization that “(r)equires or encourages the contacting of individuals who are not currently registered to vote.” ERIC’s bylaws currently require member states to mail information about voter registration to eligible but unregistered individuals at least once every two years. The Republican-sponsored bill received a favorable report from the House Governmental Affairs Committee on February 27.
- New York, where S 1356, which would require the state to join at least one multistate voter list maintenance organization, “including, but not limited to, the electronic registration information center or its successor.” It also requires that any mailing to an unregistered voter made as part of membership in the organization clearly states the voter registration criteria, including citizenship requirements. The bill passed the New York Senate unanimously on January 13.
- Utah, where HB 332 would have explicitly required the lieutenant governor to withdraw from ERIC. The bill advanced out of the lower chamber but died in the state senate. Utah was a founding member of ERIC in 2012.
Other bills related to voter list maintenance include:
- California’s SB 408 would make voter list maintenance activities that are currently authorized by state to instead be required by state law, including the use of U.S.P.S. change-of-address data. The bill is active in the senate’s Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.
- Florida’s H 831, which would require supervisors of elections to conduct quarterly voter list maintenance, instead of yearly. The bill also adds a requirement for officials to contact voters who have registered without providing proof of citizenship, or otherwise verify the voter’s citizenship, and to refer false declarations of citizenship to the state’s Office of Election Crimes and Security. The bill is active in the lower chamber’s State Affairs Committee.
- In Virginia, HB 2002, discussed in more detail below, alters the procedure for cancelling a voter’s registration.
- Iowa’s HSB 281 would specify that the state may contract with third-parties including “state and federal government agencies and private entities” for the purposes of list maintenance. The bill would also require a regular report from the state’s department of transportation to the state registrar containing a list of any person in the state that has submitted documentation showing they are not a citizen. The bill received a favorable discharge from the State Government Committee.
- In Kansas, HB 2020 would require the director of the division of motor vehicles to provide a quarterly report to the secretary of state to verify the citizenship of voters and voter registration applicants. It would also require officials to notify anyone removed from the voter rolls due to an unverified or disputed citizenship status. The Republican-sponsored bill passed the lower chamber along party lines on February 6.
- West Virginia’s SB 487 would reduce the period of inactivity required to begin the process of designating a voter as inactive from four years to two. The bill passed the state’s senate on March 5 when one of the chamber’s two Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for the bill.
- In Washington, Democratic-sponsored HB 1916 makes clarifications about what data sources election officials may use when cancelling a voter’s registration. The bill received a favorable report from the State Government and Tribal Relations Committee on February 14.
Other voter registration trends and developments
Republican-sponsored bills propose new rules or requirements related to voter registration drives and third-party participation in the registration process:
- Arkansas adopted SB 272, which passed the legislature unanimously, prohibits the pre-filing of any information on voter registration forms. Read more below.
- North Carolina’s H 127 would prohibit organized registration drives from distributing actual voter registration forms. Instead, the bill allows them to distribute a sample voter registration form that contains information about how to register to vote and includes a disclaimer that it is not an official registration application. The bill is in committee.
- In South Carolina, H 3459 adds definitions and rules for third-party voter registration drives and organizations, including requiring organizations to register with the State Election Commission, and deliver completed registration applications within 10 days of receipt. South Carolina state law currently does not address voter registration drives or organizations. The bill is active in the lower chamber’s Judiciary Committee.
Lawmakers in states with Democratic trifectas consider changes to automatic voter registration procedures:
- In Hawaii, HB 322 would change the state’s automatic voter registration from an opt-in system to an opt-out system. The bill was reported out of the House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs Committee with a favorable recommendation on February 13.
- In Washington, Democratic-sponsored SB 5077 passed the state senate along party lines on February 12. The bill would give the governor authority, under certain conditions, to expand automatic voter registration services to agencies that already process and collect the necessary information. This may include state, local, federal, and tribal agencies.
Finally, in Nebraska, LB 541 would eliminate the state’s online voter registration, and alter the state’s automatic voter registration systems by repealing provisions that allow for the electronic return of registration applications. The Nebraska Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing on the bill on March 5.
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About the authors
Joe Greaney is a staff writer on Ballotpedia's Marquee Team.
Ballotpedia Editor in Chief Geoff Pallay reviewed the report and provided feedback, as did Managing Editor Cory Eucalitto.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
- About Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
- Voting laws in the United States
- Election Policy
