Democracy Maps
State of Democracy: 2025 Mid-Year Legislative Wrap 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.
Legislative sessions have wrapped up across the majority of the country, with only eight states remaining in session as of this writing. With the bulk of legislative action related to election and voting policy in 2025 coming to a close, MAP is offering an overview of the major trends from the first half of the year.
Voter Registration
In 2025, the passage of the SAVE Act in the U.S. House and the President’s executive order on elections has put the spotlight on proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration. In addition, automatic voter registration, membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), and voter list maintenance continue to be topics of focus for state legislatures.
Proof of Citizenship Requirements
Wyoming became the first and only state this year to pass a proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration. Notably, at least 27 states introduced 68 bills to require proof of citizenship, indicating that these restrictive policies will likely be a priority for legislatures heading into next year.
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.
Membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)
This year, Alabama enacted legislation that prohibits the state from rejoining ERIC in the future. Alabama is one of nine states that has withdrawn from ERIC since 2020; these withdrawals have been the result of a misinformation campaign aimed at the organization, despite the fact that it is recognized as the best tool for states to share data in efforts to maintain the accuracy of their voter rolls.
Also this year, Hawaii officially became a member of ERIC after passing legislation in 2024 to initiate their membership in the organization. Legislation that has passed both chambers in New York would require the state to join ERIC next year.
Voter Roll Purges
In accordance with another restrictive trend this year, both Indiana and Tennessee enacted legislation that allows voter roll purges to be initiated based solely on voter inactivity. West Virginia also passed legislation that increases the frequency of these purges and will now trigger confirmation mailings after just 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 of eligible voters from registration lists, including removal 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.
Automatic Voter Registration
This month, New Mexico began implementing a new system of secure automatic voter registration (AVR), following their enactment of a law in 2023 to transition from partial to secure AVR. Michigan also transitioned their AVR system from partial to secure AVR earlier this year.
In secure AVR systems–sometimes referred to as “back-end AVR” — designated agencies, such as state DMVs, systematically send information from relevant transactions to state election authorities. Once a voter’s eligibility is confirmed, the voter is then automatically registered (or registered in pending status) before being given an opportunity to opt-out at a later time, usually through the mail.
Secure AVR systems are more efficient and effective at registering eligible voters, keeping registration records accurate, and registering only U.S. citizens to vote. With Michigan and New Mexico’s updates, ten states, along with D.C., have implemented a secure AVR system.
Voter Registration Deadlines
Montana enacted legislation which removes the ability for voters to register on the Monday before Election Day and also restricts election day registration to the hours of 8am-12pm on Election Day. Montana legislators previously attempted to repeal election day registration in the state in 2021, but the law was struck down in court.
Additional Trends in 2025
In addition to laws impacting voter registration, this year has also seen developments in several other policy areas, including mail voting, in-person voting, election security, and more.
Ballot Receipt Deadlines
This year also saw a trend in states repealing their mail ballot deadline grace periods, as Kansas, North Dakota and Utah all enacted legislation that will require mail ballots to now be received by Election Day.
This comes in the wake of the President’s executive order on elections, which seeks to force states to change their policies that allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received after Election Day. The order threatens to withhold federal funds from noncompliant states — which exceeds presidential authority — and directs the Attorney General to take legal action against these states.
Voter ID Requirements
Voter ID for in-person voting remains a focus for lawmakers in 2025. Recently enacted laws include strict requirements for casting a ballot, which follows a legislative trend we have already seen across the country.
Wisconsin voters approved a ballot measure in April that enshrines the state’s strict voter ID law into the state constitution, making it more difficult to repeal in the future.
Two states, Montana and West Virginia, enacted legislation to adopt stricter voter ID requirements. West Virginia now requests that voters present photo ID, although the state’s law is still in the “non-strict” category, meaning voters may cast a ballot without a photo ID. Montana’s new law moves the state to the “strict photo ID” category, as the legislation removed previous alternatives for voters to verify their identity if they did not have proper ID.
Thirteen states now have strict photo ID laws, representing one in five eligible voters nationwide. Indiana also enacted legislation to prohibit the use of student IDs for voting, while Tennessee banned the use of digital IDs..
Post-Election Audits
North Dakota and Oklahoma both enacted laws that require post-election audits 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. With these new laws, only seven remaining states do not require post-election audits.
Maryland and Texas also enacted legislation to require the use of risk-limiting audits for the first time. Risk-limiting audits are a form of post-election audits that use statistical methods to analyze random samples of ballots and verify the accuracy of election results. In a risk-limiting audit, the size of the random ballot sample is increased until there is statistical and objective confidence in the election results. Including these new laws, 15 states now conduct these best practice audits.
Other Notable Enactments
Colorado became the ninth state to enact a state level voting rights act, and the fifth state to do so since 2020. These laws mirror the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and are also a response to over a decade of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that stripped away some of the most important protections of the federal VRA.
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.
Colorado and Hawaii both enacted legislation that expands their existing prohibitions on the possession of firearms in polling places to also include protections against voter intimidation related to the carrying of firearms. Under Colorado’s new law, carrying a visible firearm, imitation firearm, or toy firearm while engaging in certain election-related activities is considered voter intimidation.
The law also allows an individual who alleges intimidation, threats, or coercion to pursue civil recourse. Hawaii’s new law amends the state’s election fraud statutes, expanding the forms of voter intimidation to explicitly include the unconcealed carrying of firearms or dangerous instruments within 200 feet of voter service centers, places of deposit, or polling places.
Legislation enacted in Nevada will provide additional protections for Native American voters in the state. The new law aims to improve polling place operations on reservations. Specifically, the bill requires county and city clerks to recruit election board officers for polling places within reservation boundaries, unless the tribe explicitly declines this assistance.
Additionally, the bill mandates that county and city clerks provide training for election board officers working at these polling places, with at least one training class to be held either within the reservation boundaries or in a manner accessible in-person or remotely, unless the tribe opts out. These changes build upon existing laws that already allow tribes to request polling places or ballot drop boxes within their territories.
Changes in MAP’s Policy Tally categorizations
See our “Snapshot” map here, summarizing states’ scores across all the 50+ laws and policies we track.
- West Virginia’s restrictive enactments dropped the state from “Fair” to “Low” on our Overall Tally.
Looking Ahead
As several states complete their 2025 legislative sessions, MAP will continue tracking dozens of laws and policies about voting, democracy, and elections through our Democracy Maps, which are updated in real time.
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