The Ballot Bulletin: September 5, 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 40 bills state legislatures acted on in the past week.
Weekly highlights
The big takeaways from the past week's legislative actions.
Lawmakers in five states acted on 40 bills over the last week, four more than last week. Ten state legislatures are still in regular or special sessions.
- One bill was enacted this week. Four bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, four were enacted in 2023, and one was enacted in 2022.
- Legislators acted on 22 bills in 2024 and 23 in 2023 during the same week.
- Thirty of the bills acted on this week are in states with Democratic trifectas, eight are in states with Republican trifectas, and two are in states with a divided government.
- The most active bill categories this week were election types and contest-specific procedures (14), campaign finance (10), voter registration and list maintenance (8), and counting and certification (8).
- We are currently following 4,783 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 Sept. 4, California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton (R) sued the state over a ballot measure that would allow voters to decide whether to adopt new congressional districts, arguing that the measure violates state and federal law. In the complaint, Hilton said, "The hyper-partisan gerrymandering project undertaken by the governor and legislature, as alleged herein, is an example of government officials acting under color of state law to deprive Plaintiff of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the U.S. Constitution."
- On Sept. 3, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state of Missouri, seeking to block Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) from calling a special session to redraw the state's congressional districts. The plaintiffs argue, "Nothing in the Governor’s Proclamation indicates a change in Missouri’s circumstances that requires action. Although the question of what an ‘extraordinary occasion’ under the Missouri Constitution has not been tested in the Courts, no governor has ever before convened the legislature based on similar facts."
- On Sept. 3, a South Carolina circuit judge temporarily halted the state from providing the U.S. Department of Justice with its voter database files. The Department requested the state’s voter registration list earlier this year, after which a resident voter filed the lawsuit, arguing that releasing personal information violated state law and the U.S. Constitution.
- On Sept. 3, the U.S. Department of Justice and the North Carolina Board of Elections reached a settlement in a lawsuit concerning the state's voter registration list. The Justice Department sued the board in May, alleging that the state voter rolls were missing identifying information for some voters. The settlement requires the state to file reports detailing its efforts to add the missing information for a minimum of two years.
Key movements
A look at what bills are moving and where.
One bill was enacted in the past week. Four bills were enacted during the same week in 2024, four were enacted in 2023, and one was enacted in 2022. To see all enacted bills, click here.
- California (Democratic trifecta)
Four bills passed both chambers of a state legislature. To see the full list of all bills awaiting gubernatorial action, click here.
- California (Democratic trifecta)
No bills were vetoed in the past week. Seventy 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 36 weeks of each year.
All bills
We are following 4,783 election-related bills this year, including bills carried over from the previous year.
- Trifecta status
- Democratic: 1,766 (36.9%)
- Republican: 2,233 (46.7%)
- Divided: 784 (16.4%)
- Partisan sponsorship
- Democratic: 1,830 (38.3%)
- Republican: 2,309 (48.3%)
- Bipartisan: 405 (8.5%)
- Other: 230 (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.
