The Ballot Bulletin: August 8, 2025
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 37 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.
Weekly highlights
The big takeaways from the past week's legislative actions.
Lawmakers in eight states acted on 37 bills over the last week, 29 more than last week. Nine state legislatures are still in regular or special sessions.
- One bill was enacted this week. Ten bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, five were enacted in 2023, and none were enacted in 2022.
- Legislators acted on 10 bills in 2024 and 13 in 2023 during the same week.
- Thirty-one of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, three are in states with Republican trifectas, and three are in states with a divided government.
- The most active bill categories this week were election types and contest-specific procedures (14), offices (4), and counting and certification (3).
- We are currently following 4,681 bills. At this time in 2023, the last odd year when all states held legislative sessions, we were following 2,892 bills.
In the news
A glance at what's making headlines in the world of election law.
- On Aug. 6, a U.S. District court in Oregon ruled that a lawsuit challenging the state's voter maintenance procedures can proceed. The plaintiffs, including the group Judicial Watch, the Constitution Party of Oregon, and two Oregon voters, alleged that state officials violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) because they did not remove ineligible voters.
- On Aug. 6, the Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit challenging the state's policies regarding overseas and military voters. The Michigan Republican Party and the Republican National Committee filed the original complaint in October 2024, alleging that the secretary of state's guidance concerning these voters violated the state constitution.
- On Aug. 5, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that a lawsuit challenging the state's implementation of policies regarding voting rights for people with felony convictions can move forward. The Virginia Constitution stipulates that people with felony convictions permanently lose their right to vote unless the governor pardons them or they petition the governor to restore the right.
- On July 30, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed AB17 into law. The law requires county election offices to provide updated precinct maps online if requested.
Key movements
A look at what bills are moving and where.
One bill was enacted in the past week. Ten bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, five were enacted in 2023, and none were enacted in 2022. To see all enacted bills, click here.
- California (Democratic trifecta)
No bills passed both chambers of a state legislature. To see the full list of all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.
No bills were vetoed in the past week. Sixty-five bills have been vetoed so far this year. No bills were vetoed during this period in 2024, 2023, or 2022. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
The big picture
Zooming out to see the macro-level trends in election policy so far this year.
Enacted bills
One bill was enacted this week. The chart below shows the number of enacted bills in 2025 compared to previous years.
The chart below shows the number of bills enacted over the first 32 weeks of each year.
All bills
We are following 4,681 election-related bills this year, including bills carried over from the previous year.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,747 (37.3%)
- Republican: 2,156 (46.1%)
- Divided: 778 (16.6%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,792 (38.3%)
- Republican: 2,264 (48.4%)
- Bipartisan: 402 (8.6%)
- Other: 223 (4.8%)
We were following 2,892 bills at this point in 2023. Below is a breakdown of those bills by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,518 (52.5%)
- Republican: 942 (32.6%)
- Divided: 432 (14.9%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,333 (46.1%)
- Republican: 1,063 (36.7%)
- Bipartisan: 328 (11.3%)
- Other: 168 (5.8%)
See the charts below for a comparison of total bills between 2023 and 2025 and a breakdown of all 2025 legislation by trifecta status and partisan sponsorship.
