Electionline Weekly December-18-2025

Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking

Democracy Round-Up: Tracking more than 50 laws and policies related to voting and elections, the Democracy Maps reveal the incredible differences in access to voting and election independence across the country. MAP updates the Democracy Maps in real time as legislatures across the country pass laws impacting voting, elections, and our democracy. As the year comes to a close — with only a handful of states remaining in legislative session as of this writing — MAP is looking ahead to 2026 and offering an overview of the major trends from election and voting related legislation in 2025. There were thousands of election- and voting-related bills introduced across the country in 2025 and although we’ve seen an alarming number of efforts to further restrict access for voters and protections for democracy, we intend to highlight the very real wins around the country by activists and advocates committed to safeguarding access to the ballot.

Ballotpedia Year in Review: Ballotpedia’s 2025 annual review of election-related state legislative activity highlights another significant year of voting and election process policymaking across the country. Ballotpedia has tracked 4,969 election-related bills and resolutions introduced in state legislatures in 2025—surpassing the totals for 2022, 2023, and 2024. More than 600 new laws were enacted in 2025. Visit the Ballotpedia YouTube page to watch an overview of the State of Election Administration Legislation 2025 Year-End Report

District of Columbia: D.C. is moving forward with ranked-choice voting in next year’s June primary election, after an attempt by a group of D.C. lawmakers to delay the new voting method failed on December 16. D.C. Council members Anita Bonds (D-At Large) and Wendell Felder (D-Ward 7) pushed an emergency measure that sought to delay ranked-choice voting until 2027, expressing concerns that the D.C. Board of Elections did not have enough time or a firm enough plan to successfully implement the new voting method by June. “It is clear that January to June 2026 is an unacceptable calendar. It simply is not enough time to execute a new large-scale process that will have an impact on thousands of our residents,” Bonds said during the debate. But the measure failed by a vote of 8-5, as a majority of lawmakers saw the attempt as delaying the will of voters who passed a ballot initiative last year and, with an election cycle already underway, inappropriately halting a voting method that candidates and voters were expecting to use. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) said lawmakers needed to stop the “confusing messaging we keep sending out of, ‘will we, won’t we’” and implement ranked-choice voting because it is already the law and it is moving forward.

Coldwater, Michigan: The City of Coldwater is looking to change the years municipal elections are held. The Coldwater City Council approved a request from City Clerk Shauna Chavez Monday night to pass a resolution which changes the city election cycle from odd years to even years. Cities around Michigan can make such a change without a charter amendment under a state law that was passed in 2012. It will be up to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office to approve the change for the City of Coldwater which would take effect on December 31. An ordinance was also introduced which would amend the city’s Codified Ordinances covering City Election cycles. Final action is scheduled for the Council’s meeting on January 12, 2026. Chavez said in accordance with Michigan Election Law, the four year terms for the current councilmembers would be extended by one year.

Virginia: State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D–Henrico) has filed new legislation that would return Virginia to the Electronic Registration Information Center. Virginia was one of ERIC’s founding members in 2012 under Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell. The members of ERIC — 25 states and the District of Columbia — share registration data and other reports with each other to improve the accuracy of their voter rolls. Youngkin’s administration withdrew from ERIC in May 2023, citing increased costs and “concerns regarding stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality of voter information.” Virginia has deals with Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas and the District of Columbia to share voter data. VanValkenburg said he thinks the individual agreements can’t replicate ERIC, arguing it’s the best organization for voter list maintenance. He also pointed to issues like the accidental purge in 2023, which he said could have been caused partially by leaving ERIC but also “mistakes or incompetence.” Senate Bill 57, set to be heard during the 2026 General Assembly session, would also require the commissioners to “take any steps necessary to preserve the Commonwealth’s status as a member in good standing of ERIC.” The goal of the legislation is to take it out of the executive branch’s hands, he said, “to make sure that we can’t have a governor just unilaterally pull us out.”

Legal Updates

Colorado: The Trump administration wants driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of social security numbers for all of Colorado’s registered voters, and on December 11, they sued the Colorado Secretary of State to get it. In the eight-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for Colorado, the Department of Justice cited a 1962 Civil Rights-era precedent saying they were owed all “records and papers which come into their possession relating to any application, registration … requisite to voting in such election.” The Justice Department at that time was suing to prevent southern states from systematically excluding Black residents from voter rolls. It’s less clear what the Trump administration is trying to accomplish with last week’s suit. The lawsuit is a culmination of months of back and forth between Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold and the DOJ regarding sensitive voter information from Colorado residents. Bondi’s lawyers said in the recent filing that they are trying to enforce various election statutes, including the Civil Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. In conducting these probes, they need the state to “be in compliance with federal election law.”

Trump (R) signed a formal pardon for Tina Peters, according to Peter Ticktin, her Florida-based attorney, who shared the pardon document with Colorado Newsline. The document, which appears to be dated Dec. 5, says it grants “a full and unconditional pardon” for “those offenses she has or may have committed or taken part in related to election integrity and security during the period January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021.” The pardon applies to Peters’ conviction on state charges, Ticktin said. The charges related to Peters’ role in a 2021 security breach when she was the Mesa County clerk. Presidential pardons have universally been understood to apply only to federal crimes, not state crimes. Reports about Trump’s claim to have pardoned Peters, announced on social media, characterized it as empty or “symbolic.” “Trump’s pardon has no legal impact on her state conviction and incarceration,” according to CNN. But Ticktin says the pardon is the tool he needs to compel Colorado to free Peters. “She didn’t commit any federal offenses,” Ticktin said in an interview with Newsline. “The only thing that she could be pardoned on are state offenses, because that’s all that are out there.”

Georgia: The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Fulton County for refusing to turn over voter records from the 2020 election, escalating an ongoing legal campaign aimed at forcing state and local officials to disclose sensitive voter roll information to the federal government. The lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in Atlanta, demanded that Fulton County turn over “all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files,” from the 2020 election. It also accuses Fulton County Clerk Ché Alexander of violating federal laws for refusing to relinquish the records. In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the records were needed to protect U.S. citizens from “vote dilution.” Trump has long claimed — without evidence — that the 2020 election was stolen in Georgia and other swing states, blaming his loss on unfounded accusations of rampant voting fraud, even though two recounts affirmed former President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. In an interview with POLITICO published earlier this week, Trump claimed that in the next few months, evidence would emerge to prove that 2020 was “a rigged election.” Black Voters Matter and local affiliates of the Communication Workers of America labor union are asking to intervene in the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking Fulton County’s 2020 ballots. The groups filed a motion this week to join the lawsuit, arguing the Justice Department should not get the ballots and other election records because they are under seal and “no federal law justifies DOJ’s far-reaching demand.” Lawyers from the organizations claim the Justice Department is attempting “to fan the flames of conspiracy and sow doubt about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.” The Justice Department sued the Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court Ché Alexander last week seeking the ballots and other election materials — a significant escalation in the continuing battle over Georgia’s 2020 election results. In court documents, the lawyers said the department is engaged in a “vengeful” effort and allowing them access to the election materials would undermine their clients’ efforts to mobilize voters. If voters knew the department would “rummage through their ballots” and other documents to support a conspiracy, it would deter people from voting in future elections, the groups allege. The groups said they seek to intervene to protect the voting rights and privacy of their constituents.

Hawai’i: The U.S. Department of Justice added Hawaiʻi to the list of 17 other states it has hauled into court as part of the Trump administration’s effort to gather sensitive personal information on all registered voters across the nation. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote to the Hawaiʻi Election Office on Sept. 8 to request the voter registration information, including drivers license numbers and partial social security numbers. That request has been made to at least 40 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago refused, and on December 11 the DOJ filed suit in Honolulu federal court. The lawsuit seeks to compel Nago to provide the voter registration information under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which allows the attorney general to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of statewide voter registration lists. The DOJ demand seeks the full name, date of birth and home address of each Hawaiʻi voter along with either the driver’s license number, the last four digits of the voter’s social security number or a unique identifier number assigned to each voter under the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Nago declined to discuss the DOJ lawsuit, saying his office does not comment on pending litigation. Toni Schwartz, public information officer for the state Attorney General’s office, issued a written statement Friday saying that “we will vigorously defend privacy rights of Hawaiʻi’s voters and our lawful election practices against the federal administration’s continued, nationwide overreach.”

Idaho: A 2025 candidate for Ketchum City Council filed a lawsuit challenging the Nov. 4 elections, over how candidate names were rotated on ballots. Candidate Perry Boyle is asking the court to annul the certified results and order a new election, according to a news release from the Blaine County Clerk. Boyle’s argument centers on the rotation of his name on ballots. Officials said Ketchum has two precincts, and candidates were listed alphabetically with rotation by precinct, consistent with the Secretary of State Phil McGrane’s regulations. In one precinct, Boyle’s name appeared first on the ballot. In the other precinct, the candidate list was rotated by one position, placing his name last. The Blaine County Clerk said the county followed state law regarding ballot name rotation. “Our responsibility as election officials is straightforward: to administer elections in strict compliance with Idaho law and the directives of the Secretary of State,” officials said. “This election used the same state- and federally-certified voting systems that counties use statewide.” Before Boyle’s lawsuit, the clerk said the Idaho Secretary of State’s office publicly confirmed that Blaine County complied with the law.

Maine: Maine asked the district court to throw out the lawsuit from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice over the state refusing to turn over sensitive voter data. The motion to dismiss, filed in the U.S. District Court of Maine by Attorney General Aaron Frey on Dec. 12 on behalf of the state, argues that the lawsuit should be discharged in its entirety because the DOJ failed to support a valid legal case as to why it is justified to such information, and that its information requests violate federal privacy law. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who is running for governor in 2026, has twice rejected these requests, which have demanded Maine’s full voter registration list — including all fields, such as driver’s license numbers, partial social security numbers and full dates of birth — along with names of officials who handle the list’s maintenance, the number of ineligible voters the state identified due to noncitizenship and voter registration applications from specific time periods, among other information. In September, the DOJ sued Maine and Oregon for not turning over the information and has since launched lawsuits against roughly half a dozen other states.

Missouri: Cole County Judge Christopher Limbaugh said December 12 that he is pausing a case over whether Secretary of State Denny Hoskins can throw out thousands of signatures for a Missouri redistricting referendum, pointing out that it may be moot if the referendum qualifies for the November 2026 ballot. People Not Politicians sued Hoskins after he said he would not count signatures collected before the middle of October. That group then turned in more than 300,000 signatures, likely more than enough to make the ballot even without any gathered before mid-October. “Currently, to the court’s knowledge, no signatures have been officially accepted or rejected. Conceivably, this could be enough signatures to place the referendum on the ballot thereby mooting the issues presented in the case at bar,” Limbaugh wrote. “Therefore, the court will hold this case in abeyance until the requisite number of signatures have been certified or up until enough signatures have been rejected so as to prevent plaintiffs’ referendum from appearing on the ballot. It is further ordered that Secretary Hoskins preserve all signatures filed with his office, whether those signatures are accepted or rejected, until further order by this court.” Hoskins told St. Louis Public Radio this week he is not disposing of the pre-Oct. 14 signatures.

Montana: The Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation will have the chance to elect a representative of their choice to the Chouteau County Board of Commissioners following a settlement in a Voting Rights Act lawsuit. In the lawsuit, the tribe and two Native American voters alleged Chouteau County’s at-large voting system unlawfully diluted the voting strength of Native voters and denied them representation on the county commission for more than a decade. A settlement approved this week by the U.S. District Court of Montana ensures the tribal nation’s reservation will be part of the county’s District 1, which will elect a representative to the Board of County Commissioners through a single-member district election, the ACLU of Montana said Wednesday in a news release. In a statement from the ACLU, Chippewa Cree Tribe Chairman Harlan Gopher Baker praised Chouteau County for doing the right thing in giving the tribe a chance to elect a representative to the board. “It has been more than a decade since we have had a Native voice in county politics,” Gopher Baker said. “We look forward to being a part of this conversation.”

Nevada: The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed a federal lawsuit against Nevada on December 12, saying the state failed to provide its statewide voter registration list when requested. The action is part of a broader federal effort to enforce election-record laws. The DOJ argues that Congress granted the Attorney General authority to enforce the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which require states to maintain accurate voter registration lists. Federal officials also cite the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which allows the government to request, inspect, and review statewide voter registration records. Nevada officials, however, say the federal government is seeking sensitive voter information without explaining how it will be protected. In a statement, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said the DOJ is requesting data that includes driver’s license and Social Security numbers and has not provided adequate details about data security. “The Department of Justice is making sweeping demands of states to hand over private voter data. Despite our simple requests for information on how they’re going to keep this data secure, they’ve given us no clear answers,” Aguilar said. “It’s my duty to follow Nevada law and protect the best interests of Nevadans, which includes protecting their sensitive information and access to the ballot.” Aguilar also said the federal government is exerting pressure on states ahead of the 2026 election cycle. The ACLU said its national organization and Nevada chapter filed a motion to intervene in the department’s lawsuit against the state. In its motion, the ACLU argues that its members have a right to privacy and that its organizational mission could be harmed if the federal government obtains sensitive voter data. “If our motion is granted, we remain poised to defend the privacy rights of Nevadans in the face of unauthorized, improper demands by a federal government insistent on expanding its own power while undermining the privacy rights of ordinary Americans,” ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah said in a statement.

New Hampshire: Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff dismissed a lawsuit against new, stricter identification requirements for New Hampshire absentee voters, ruling that the law is constitutional and treats absentee voters with the same scrutiny as in-person voters. The lawsuit, brought by three visually impaired residents against Secretary of State Dave Scanlan, sought to strike down the law created by Senate Bill 287. That law, signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte in August, requires absentee voters to provide identification each time they vote. Under the new law, absentee voters can do that by providing a photocopy of the ID with their mail-in ballot, getting a notary to sign the ballot, or going in person to their town or city clerk and presenting their ID. At issue in the case was whether the new ID requirements impose “severe restrictions” on voters or nondiscriminatory and reasonable ones. In a nine-page opinion, Ruoff ruled that the restrictions are not severe. “Burdens are generally deemed severe when they outright exclude voters from the process,” Ruoff wrote. “Here, the identification requirements impose ordinary burdens on all absentee voters, and the possibility that it may cause additional burden on a subset of absentee voters does not render the entire statute unconstitutional.” Ruoff noted that the statute provides multiple options for absentee voters who might lack the means to take one particular approach. And he reasoned that voting always includes some effort, and that before the new law, absentee voters “were already required to mail or provide their application to the secretary of state or town or city clerk.”

Ten days after lawyers for the Trump administration filed a brief looking to block a group of New Hampshire residents from joining their voter registration lawsuit, the government now says it no longer is taking a position on the matter. Longtime personal privacy advocate Neal Kurk joined Christopher Cole, a Portsmouth attorney, former Democratic state representative Bob Perry and Louise Spencer, co-founder of the liberal advocacy group Kent Street Coalition, in filing a motion seeking intervenor status — which would allow them to file their own motions against the lawsuit. In a brief filed Dec. 5 in the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire, Department of Justice attorneys argued the four residents don’t meet the legal requirements necessary to be added as intervenors. But in a new brief filed December 15, attorneys for the Trump administration say while the United States “initially opposed the Motion to Intervene and filed its response, the United States notifies the Court that it now takes no position on the Proposed Intervenors’ Motion to Intervene.”

Oklahoma> The Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked controversial new social studies standards from going into effect, ruling that the guidelines—which reference discredited claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, and include dozens of references to Christianity and the Bible—were approved without the legally required public notice. After State Superintendent Ryan Walters stepped down, new State Superintendent Lindel Fields rolled back some of those standards and now with this week’s decision from the state Supreme Court, Oklahoma must go back to the drawing board on the social studies standards, too. Teachers will continue to use the 2019 social studies standards, pending a new revision process. Even before the court’s decision, Fields had announced tentative plans to make rewrites to the 2025 standards, citing a need to evaluate whether additions were “germane to what kids need to learn,” the Oklahoma Voice reported in October.

Tennessee: Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members are suing the Shelby County Election Commission over 2026 election changes that would cut short more than half of the board’s terms. The lawsuit argues that abridging board members’ terms is unconstitutional and against state code. It also calls the changes “legislative punishment masquerading as election reform.” MSCS board members are also seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the commission from holding the reset election, which is set to kick off with partisan primaries in May. In an emailed statement, Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips said she is “aware of and disappointed” that the school board is suing the Shelby County Election Commission. “The Shelby County Election Commission works to ensure elections are properly administered, but does not decide which elections are placed on the ballot,” Phillips said.

Wyoming: An attorney for Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock wants a judge to toss the criminal case over his client’s failure to appear at a legislative committee meeting where she had been subpoenaed to testify, new court filings show. “Through this prosecution, the State of Wyoming seeks to enforce a legislative subpoena issued to Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock,” the motion filed this week states. “But that subpoena was void from the start so this prosecution must fail as a matter of law.” During an appearance in Natrona County Circuit Court, Hadlock pleaded not guilty in November to a misdemeanor charge of defying a legislative subpoena. Months earlier, the Legislature’s Management Audit Committee subpoenaed the clerk to appear at its September meeting in Casper. At the time, the panel was investigating Hadlock for her role in a miscount and subsequent audit in the November 2024 election. The miscount stemmed from an error in her office and led to a dramatic undercount in the number of votes for a state lawmaker who was running unopposed. But such an investigation is not the purview of the Management Audit Committee, argues Ryan Semerad, Hadlock’s defense attorney. “State law assigns all investigations into suspected violations of Wyoming’s Election Code to the Executive Department through the Wyoming Attorney General, the local county prosecuting attorney, or the county sheriff,” Semerad’s motion states.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker