App · Reform tracker

Reform tracker

How each state runs its elections in six areas that reform efforts often target, as the law stood for the November 3, 2026 election. The marks show how far a practice applies in a state, not whether it is a good idea.

Research draft
Areas tracked
6
States
50
Changes pending
20

Research draft. We gathered this from official sources: election offices, state laws and court records, each linked to its source. Separate reviewers checked a random sample of 64 facts from the reform research against the cited sources and found 6 errors, since corrected; 1 couldn’t be checked because the source wouldn’t display its text. The rest hasn't been reviewed fact by fact yet, so check the linked source before relying on anything here.

§1Ranked-choice voting

Voters rank the candidates in order of preference instead of choosing only one.

State and federal elections

  • Used3 states
  • Military and overseas runoff ballots only5 states
  • Not used41 states
  • Not confirmed1 state

Local elections

  • Used locally10 states
  • Allowed3 states
  • Prohibited18 states
  • No state law found18 states
  • Not confirmed1 state

Ranked-choice voting: every state, with the law behind it

§2Redistricting

Who draws the district lines for the U.S. House and the state legislature.

U.S. House districts

  • Independent commission7 states
  • Commission with elected officials1 state
  • Advisory commission6 states
  • Legislature, with a backup commission2 states
  • Legislature26 states
  • One statewide seat6 states
  • Other1 state
  • Not confirmed1 state

State legislative districts

  • Independent commission8 states
  • Commission with elected officials5 states
  • Advisory commission7 states
  • Legislature, with a backup commission5 states
  • Legislature22 states
  • Other3 states

Redistricting: every state, with the law behind it

§3Primary elections

Who can vote in the primaries that choose candidates for state and congressional offices.

  • Open20 states
  • Top-two2 states
  • Top-four1 state
  • Semi-closed10 states
  • Closed11 states
  • Other6 states

Primary elections: every state, with the law behind it

§4Automatic voter registration

Eligible people are registered to vote when they deal with a state agency, such as the motor vehicle office, unless they decline.

  • In place22 states
  • Passed, not yet started1 state
  • None26 states
  • Not confirmed1 state

Automatic voter registration: every state, with the law behind it

§5Same-day registration

Eligible people can register and vote on the same day.

  • Including Election Day21 states
  • During early voting only1 state
  • For president only2 states
  • None25 states
  • No registration at all1 state

Same-day registration: every state, with the law behind it

§6Legislative term limits

Limits on how long a person may serve in the state legislature.

  • Lifetime limit6 states
  • Consecutive-term limit10 states
  • No limit33 states
  • Not confirmed1 state

Legislative term limits: every state, with the law behind it

§7Changes pending

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Laws not yet in effect, open court cases and November 3 measures that would change a status above.

  • Alabama. Alabama's appeal of the May 26, 2026 district-court order against the 2023 congressional map is before the U.S. Supreme Court; the Court's June 2, 2026 stay keeps the 2023 map in use while the appeal is pending.1 608 U.S. 511, at 514-515 On June 8, 2026 the 11th Circuit sent the State Senate map cases back to the district court to reconsider them in light of Louisiana v. Callais, so those cases remain open.2
  • Alaska. If voters approve Ballot Measure No. 2 (24ESEG) on November 3, 2026, the top-four primary and ranked-choice general elections would end, party primaries would again choose party nominees, general-election winners would be chosen by the most votes, and campaign finance rules added in 2020 would be repealed.3,4 Sample ballot HD1-JD1, Ballot Measure No. 2 If voters reject Ballot Measure No. 2, the top-four primary, the ranked-choice general elections and the 2020 campaign finance rules stay in place under current law.3,5,6
  • Colorado. Amendment 86 on the November 3, 2026 ballot would require the congressional redistricting commission and the Colorado Supreme Court to approve any change to congressional districts made between the regular once-a-decade redistrictings; it needs 55 percent of the vote to pass.7,8 Blue Book pp. 29-30 Colorado Republican Party v. Griswold is still before the federal district court in Colorado; its March 31, 2026 ruling on the three-fourths rule for leaving the primary system could change how major parties nominate in later years.9,10
  • Delaware. A newer version of the DMV registration law, already printed in the Delaware Code, will take effect once a condition set in that law is met: people will be registered during the DMV transaction unless they decline, and will pick a party at that time; the Department of Elections says this change is coming soon.11,12
  • Hawaii. Automatic registration under Act 67 of 2026 begins January 1, 2027, after the November 3, 2026 election.13 Honolulu voters will decide Charter Question 5 on November 3, 2026, which asks whether the City should elect its mayor, council and prosecuting attorney by ranked-choice voting in a single November election starting in 2032.14 p. 87, 2026 Proposed Amendments to the Honolulu City Charter, Question #5
  • Louisiana. Act 7's switch to the open primary covers only the 2026 U.S. House elections. The act keeps U.S. House in the legal list of party primary offices, so House nominees are again set to be chosen in closed party primaries in later years unless the law changes.15 Act 7, Sections 6, 7 and 8
  • Maryland. Question 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot is a constitutional amendment passed in an August 2026 special session (Chapter 881). It would limit the constitution's district standards to General Assembly districts, let the General Assembly give the Supreme Court of Maryland original jurisdiction to review the congressional plan, and state that the Maryland Constitution sets no criteria for congressional district boundaries.16,17 The ballot wording of Question 3 was set by a Supreme Court of Maryland order dated September 3, 2026, in cases brought against the State Board of Elections.16
  • Massachusetts. Question 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot, an initiative petition the legislature did not act on, would replace party primaries for state offices with one all-party primary in which the top two candidates for each office advance; if approved it takes effect January 1, 2028.18,19 Question 4 on the November 3, 2026 ballot, a second initiative petition the legislature did not act on, would let eligible people register or update their address at their polling place on Election Day; if approved it takes effect January 1, 2028.18,20
  • Missouri. Proposition A on the November 3, 2026 ballot asks voters to approve or reject the 2025 congressional map; a yes vote approves House Bill No. 1, and a no vote leaves the 2022 districts in place.21
  • Nebraska. LR19CA, a constitutional amendment the Legislature passed on May 28, 2025, is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. If approved, it would allow three consecutive terms instead of two before the four-year break.22,23
  • Texas. A federal case over the 2025 congressional map (League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott, W.D. Tex. No. 3:21-cv-259) continues; on December 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court put on hold a November 18, 2025 district court order that had blocked the map, and the hold stays in place while an appeal is pending.24
  • Virginia. The Department of Elections lists January 1, 2027 as the effective date of the 2026 bills that extend the ranked choice voting option to every local governing body, including town councils, and make the option permanent.25 HB630 and SB176
  • Washington. On October 5, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit's judgment upholding the court-drawn Yakima Valley legislative map and sent the case back for further consideration in light of Louisiana v. Callais, so the future of that map is unsettled.26 Seattle's city primaries are set to use ranked choice voting starting August 3, 2027.27

§8Other notes on the research

What the research couldn’t read or confirm that isn’t about one reform, in its own plain words. Notes about a reform are on its page.

Alabama1 note
  • Code of Alabama §§ 17-13-7, 17-13-8.1 and 17-13-18 are not cited. The Legislature's Code page builds its text with scripts; the research agent first read these sections by requesting the page's underlying data directly, an automated access policy then refused that method as circumvention, and we removed every fact that rested only on those reads. A reviewer can restore them after reading the sections in a browser.
Alaska1 note
  • The text of initiative 24ESEG posted by the Division (24ESEG-Bill.pdf) is a scanned image; we described Ballot Measure No. 2 from the official sample-ballot summary instead and did not check whether the bill also addresses local elections.
Arkansas2 notes
  • Statutes and constitution sections were read from the Secretary of State's Election Laws of Arkansas and Constitution, 2025 Edition (compiled October 2025); laws passed in the 2026 fiscal session, if any, would not appear there. The official Arkansas Code site is run by a vendor behind a terms page, so we did not use it.
  • None of the four statewide issues on the November 3, 2026 ballot (Issues 1-4: citizen-only voting, right to bear arms, economic development districts, water and waste bonds) concerns the fields in this file, so pending is empty.
California2 notes
  • The Legislature's code site (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) answered with a human-verification check (HTTP 403, Just a moment...), so we did not read the current text of the California Constitution or the Elections and Government Codes there; constitutional and statutory rules are taken from Secretary of State pages, official voter guides and the Commission's site.
  • The Commission eligibility rule is cited from Government Code section 8252 as enacted by Proposition 11 in 2008; later amendments to that section, if any, were not checked.
Colorado2 notes
  • Colorado's official statutes and constitution are posted by the Office of Legislative Legal Services as whole-title PDFs with no per-section links, so each is cited once with section locators. The General Assembly's own constitution page links only to a LexisNexis copy, which we did not use.
  • We could not see the federal court docket in Colorado Republican Party v. Griswold (PACER needs a login), so we do not know whether anything was filed or decided after the April 28, 2026 order, including any appeal.
Connecticut3 notes
  • The online General Statutes are revised to January 1, 2025, with a 2026 Supplement for the 2025 session. Laws passed in the 2026 session are not yet in the online code; we checked them only through the Office of Legislative Research's 2026 summary of election laws.
  • We did not search court records for pending election cases in Connecticut, because our web search tool reached its limit during this state.
  • The constitution text is the General Assembly's codified version, which its editors describe as unofficial; the amendments it combines are printed in the same document.
Georgia2 notes
  • The Georgia Secretary of State's website (sos.ga.gov, including its election pages, election calendar, My Voter Page and its copy of the state constitution) answered with a bot check asking to enable JavaScript and cookies, so we did not use it; a single request at a slower pace on 2026-10-27 got the same check. The official Code of Georgia is hosted by a vendor behind a terms click-through, which we did not accept.
  • Our web search tool reached its limit before we started Georgia, which limited our ability to find other official copies of these laws.
Hawaii1 note
  • The Hawaii Legislature's statute site (capitol.hawaii.gov) answered our first request with a Cloudflare block page, so we did not read HRS §§ 11-100, 11-110, 12-41 or chapter 25 directly; those values rest on the Office of Elections' own summaries, which cite the sections. We did not try the legislature's other hosts.
Illinois1 note
  • The State Board of Elections' 2026 deadline sheet prints its month labels as graphics; the October 6 and October 18 dates come from the day numbers in the General Election section (October 6 is the 28th day before November 3).
Indiana1 note
  • The Indiana General Assembly's site for the Indiana Code and Constitution (iga.in.gov) loads only through JavaScript and returned no statute text to our plain download, so we could not read Ind. Const. art. 4 or IC 3-3-2 directly; values rest on Election Division publications.
Iowa1 note
  • The Iowa Secretary of State's website (sos.iowa.gov) answered with a Cloudflare challenge page, including to a single request at a slower pace on 2026-10-27, and the Polk County Auditor's site returned Access Denied, so we used neither; all values rest on the Iowa Code, the Iowa Administrative Code and the Constitution on the legislature's site.
Massachusetts1 note
  • The Secretary of the Commonwealth's website (sec.state.ma.us) answered this agent with a bot check, so we did not read its other pages. The two pending ballot questions are cited to the Secretary's Information for Voters guide, which the ballot-measures research downloaded on 2026-10-27 before that site began blocking requests.
Mississippi2 notes
  • The official Mississippi Code is hosted by a vendor (LexisNexis) behind its own terms of use, so we did not read it. Values rest on the Secretary of State's handbooks, calendar, forms and published constitution, and on the Legislature's bill records.
  • The Secretary of State's copy of the constitution is annotated through May 2022; we found no later change to the sections cited in the Legislature's 2023-2026 bill lists, but did not check every session.
Missouri1 note
  • The Missouri courts website (courts.mo.gov) returned a 403 page that prohibits automated access, so we did not read the Supreme Court's September 3, 2026 opinion. The ruling is described from the Revisor of Statutes' note and annotation on RSMo 128.346.
Montana1 note
  • The Secretary of State's website (sosmt.gov) answered our first request with a firewall block page on 2026-10-27, so we did not use it; nothing here rests on the Secretary of State's own pages.
Nebraska1 note
  • The Secretary of State's September 11, 2026 ballot certification news release lists only the three initiative measures (440, 441 and 442) and does not mention LR19CA; the Secretary of State's 2026 elections page does list LR19CA as the constitutional amendment the Legislature passed for the 2026 general election. We did not check a county sample ballot.
Nevada1 note
  • We could not read the Secretary of State's list of 2026 statewide ballot questions. Clark County's official notice of the November 3, 2026 general election lists State Questions 6 and 7 (abortion rights and voter identification); neither would change these fields as worded, but other questions, if any, were not checked.
New Hampshire2 notes
  • The Secretary of State's websites (www.sos.nh.gov and mm.nh.gov), the Judicial Branch website (www.courts.nh.gov) and the state portal page for the constitution (www.nh.gov) all answered with Access Denied pages on 2026-10-27, so we used only the statutes on the General Court's site and the City of Manchester's election pages.
  • We could not read the Secretary of State's list of 2026 statewide questions; Manchester's Ward 1 sample ballot shows one constitutional question (eliminating the elected register of probate), which does not affect these fields.
New Jersey1 note
  • The Division of Elections' 2026 election page lists no statewide public questions for November 3, 2026; we did not check a separate official list of public questions.
New Mexico1 note
  • We read the Secretary of State's 2025 regular local election proclamation from a copy posted by the Sierra County government; we did not find the copy on the Secretary of State's own site.
New York1 note
  • We could not read the State Board of Elections' list of 2026 statewide ballot proposals, so we could not check whether one would change a value here; New York City's five 2026 charter questions do not concern elections.
North Carolina1 note
  • Three statewide constitutional amendments are on the 2026 ballot, read from Wake County's official sample ballot (photo ID for all voters, an income tax rate cap, and limits on local property tax increases); none of them changes a value here.
Ohio2 notes
  • The commission's October 31, 2025 minutes are posted marked as unapproved; the vote is taken from those minutes.
  • We did not find the exact general election registration deadline date on an official page we could read; the 30-day rule comes from the statute.
Pennsylvania2 notes
  • We did not find a statewide ballot question for November 3, 2026 on the Department of State's Upcoming Elections page and did not search further, so nothing is listed under pending.
  • The Department of State's voter services site (pavoterservices.pa.gov) returned a bot-check page, so we did not use it.
Rhode Island2 notes
  • We could not read the Department of State's list of November 3, 2026 ballot questions (blocked by a bot check), so we could not confirm that no 2026 question would change any of these values.
  • The October 4, 2026 registration deadline is our count of 30 days before November 3 under § 17-9.1-3; we could not check it against the Department of State's calendar.
South Carolina1 note
  • We did not find a State Election Commission list of statewide ballot questions for November 3, 2026 on the pages we read, and did not search further, so nothing is listed under pending.
South Dakota1 note
  • The Legislature's statute pages (sdlegislature.gov) are a script-driven app; the research agent read section text from the documents that app loads, and each statute citation also cites the Secretary of State's 2026 Election Code compilation, which carries the same sections as a plain PDF.
Texas1 note
  • The Texas statute pages cited (statutes.capitol.texas.gov) now display their text only through a script-driven viewer; the research agent read the same text as plain documents from the Texas Legislative Council's public file server (tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/), so a reader opening a cited link sees the statute only in a browser that runs the viewer.
Washington1 note
  • Washington's November 3, 2026 statewide measures (IL26-001, IL26-638 and IP26-645, per the Secretary of State's measure page) do not concern any of these fields.
West Virginia1 note
  • We did not find an official list of statewide measures on the November 3, 2026 ballot on the Secretary of State's site, so we could not confirm that no measure affects these fields.
Wisconsin1 note
  • The October 14, 2026 mail and online registration deadline is our own calculation from § 6.28(1)(a), not a date read from an Elections Commission notice.
Wyoming1 note
  • The only statewide measure on the November 3, 2026 ballot, Proposed Initiative Proposition Number One, concerns a property tax exemption and does not affect these fields.