Democracy Maps
Democracy Maps Updates: April 2025
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 pass laws impacting voting, elections, and our democracy.
These are the Democracy Maps updates as of April 16, 2025.
▸▸ State Policy Updates
Proof of Citizenship Requirements
Wyoming became the first state this year to pass a proof of citizenship requirement for registration.
Four states now have these laws in effect, and at least 20 states are currently considering 47 bills related to proof of citizenship requirements.
Mail Ballot Receipt Deadlines
Kansas and Utah both enacted legislation to remove the mail ballot receipt deadline grace period and will now require ballots to be received by the close of polls on Election Day.
With these changes, 30 states now require mail ballots to be received by Election Day.
Voter Roll Purges
West Virginia enacted legislation to increase the frequency of voter roll purges based on voter’s inactivity, and will now trigger confirmation mailings after two years of non-voting.
While maintaining accurate voter lists is an important part of election administration systems, some states utilize more aggressive tactics which can result in unwarranted removal from registration lists, including removal from registration lists based solely on a voter’s inactivity in recent elections. This practice results in the erroneous removal of hundreds of thousands of voters each year and has a disproportionate impact on voters from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
Post-Election Audits
North Dakota enacted legislation to require post-election audits in the state for the first time. Post-election audits are a nonpartisan process that allows states to verify the accuracy and performance of voting equipment and vote counting machines. Properly conducted, nonpartisan audits provide public confidence in election results and can also act as a safeguard against hacking and foreign interference.
Only eight states now remain that do not require post-election audits.
Bans on Private Funding of Election Administration
Wyoming also passed a ban on private funding of election administration.
The majority of states now have these restrictive laws in place, representing more than 55% of eligible voters.
Primary Election Systems
New Mexico enacted a law that changes the state’s primary election system to be semi-open, allowing independent voters to choose which primary to vote in. The state previously had closed primaries. Even with this change, over 1 in 5 eligible voters still live in states with closed primaries.
Legislative Interference in Elections
Utah enacted a law that allows legislative interference in election administration by requiring legal settlements related to election law to be submitted to the legislature for approval.
Twelve states now have laws allowing the state legislature to seize power over election administration.
Voter ID
Wisconsin voters approved a ballot measure this month that enshrines the state’s strict voter ID law into the state constitution, making it more difficult to repeal in the future. Kentucky lawmakers also overrode the governor’s veto to enact a law which removes credit and debit cards from the allowable list of IDs. Indiana passed a law, now on the governor’s desk, which would prohibit the use of student IDs for voting.
Changes in MAP’s Policy Tally categorizations
See our Overall map here, summarizing states’ scores across all the 50+ laws and policies we track.
- West Virginia’s new voter purge law dropped the state to “Low” on our Overall Tally.
▸▸ MAP Policy Research Updates
With legislative sessions well underway in states across the country, MAP’s Democracy 101 series focuses on educating communities about emerging trends in election and voting-related legislation.
One of our recent briefs is focused on proof of citizenship requirements, including the SAVE Act, which passed the House last week. Proof of citizenship requirements create significant barriers to voting, due to lack of access to documents to prove citizenship. These laws would also disproportionately impact marginalized communities, create immense administrative and cost burdens on election officials, and disrupt current registration systems.
To learn more and read Democracy 101: Understanding Proof of Citizenship Requirements for Voter Registration, click here. You can also access additional briefs in our series below focused on:
▸▸ More from Democracy Maps
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