Voter Data 101
Voter Data Access Legislation
Tracking state legislative activity related to the availability of voter files and voter registration data, 2023 through 2026.
Overview
Legislative Activity at a Glance
Across the country, state legislatures are actively shaping the rules around who can access voter registration data, on what terms, and at what cost. The bills tracked here focus specifically on the availability of state voter files, including access pricing, permitted uses, data sharing, and confidentiality protections.
2026
56
bills in 24 states
2025
40
bills in 23 states
2024
13
bills in 9 states
2023
4
bills in 4 states
Notable Enacted Legislation: 2025 & 2026
The bills below represent the most significant enacted legislation affecting voter data access in 2025 and 2026, assessed from the perspective of advocates for open public access to voter registration data. Color-coded bars indicate each bill's overall direction: red for measures that restricted access or increased barriers, orange for measures that made changes without meaningfully improving access, and purple for measures affecting federal or intergovernmental data sharing rather than public access.
Voter Information; limit cost of reproducing voter registration list; crime for misuse of personal voter information; created
While the bill nominally caps reproduction costs, its primary effect is to narrow the permitted uses of voter registration data and create new criminal penalties for misuse. From the perspective of VRF, this is a net negative: the tighter usage restrictions reduce what recipients can lawfully do with the data, adding a legal deterrent that restricts legitimate research and voter engagement uses alongside actual bad actors.
Voter registration; requiring cancellation of voter registration under certain circumstances; requiring proof of citizenship; qualifications for access to certain list
This bill tightened the qualifications required to access the voter registration list and added proof-of-citizenship requirements to the registration process. For VRF, it narrows who can obtain the file and links access to a more restricted voter base, reducing both the quantity of eligible requesters and the completeness of the underlying data available to them.
Georgia Secretary of State; request of the United States Department of Justice to securely produce Georgia's voter registration list; urge
This resolution urged the Georgia Secretary of State to comply with a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) request for an unredacted copy of the state voter registration list under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and the NVRA. It does not expand public access, but it does signal state legislative support for federal oversight of voter roll data. We view intergovernmental sharing positively as a transparency mechanism, but still reserve concerns about federal data consolidation.
A resolution to demand that the Michigan Secretary of State comply with the U.S. Department of Justice's request for an unredacted copy of Michigan's statewide voter registration list
Similar in intent to Georgia's SR563, this resolution demanded the Michigan Secretary of State hand over an unredacted voter file to the DOJ. From a public access standpoint, this does not make changes to existing policy; rather it asserts that voter roll data should flow to federal authorities under existing law. It does not improve access for researchers, campaigns, or civic engagement organizations, and unredacted federal sharing without corresponding public transparency norms can reduce trust in the systems which is counter to the goals of VRF.
Amend provisions pertaining to the maintenance and publication of the statewide voter registration file
This bill updated the rules around how South Dakota maintains and publishes its statewide voter file, but it did not move the needle for public access in a truly meaningful way. South Dakota still does not permit public publishing of the voter file, and this legislation made no change to that fundamental restriction. Adjustments to the maintenance and publication framework are procedural housekeeping within a system that remains closed to open access, leaving the primary barrier that the file cannot be publicly published entirely intact.
Amend provisions pertaining to the publication of the statewide voter registration file
A follow-on to South Dakota's 2025 HB1062, this bill made further amendments to how the voter file is published, but again without addressing the underlying access problem. South Dakota continues to prohibit public publishing of the voter file, so successive rounds of publication-framework amendments represent activity without progress from an access standpoint. The legislature's repeated engagement with this topic without resolving the publishing prohibition is a missed opportunity to bring the state in line with more transparent states.
Election Records Amendments
This elections records bill made changes to how voter file data is handled alongside rules around auditing, voting equipment, and reporting, but it left Utah's fundamental access structure unchanged. A substantial portion of Utah's voter population remains restricted from public access and publishing, and this bill did nothing to expand access to the unrestricted file or reduce the size of the restricted tier. Transparency and reporting provisions are useful, but they do not substitute for the ability to actually obtain, analyze, and publish the underlying data.
Various elections matters
This omnibus elections bill touched voter file availability alongside ballot access, voter registration, list maintenance, and poll observer rules, but made no meaningful improvement for public transparency. Indiana took no action to expand access to its unrestricted voter file, and the broader tightening of list-maintenance and observer provisions that traveled with these changes signals a legislature more focused on restricting the voter data ecosystem than opening it. The voter file provisions were a missed opportunity within a vehicle that had the scope to act.
Year by Year
Annual Summary
2026
56 bills introduced in 24 states (as of 5/8/2026)
Minnesota13 bills
Iowa4 bills
Alaska3 bills
Arizona3 bills
Georgia3 bills
17
Introduced
8
Crossed Over
6
Enacted
1
Vetoed
24
Dead
2025
40 bills introduced in 23 states
Minnesota6 bills
Texas5 bills
Arizona2 bills
Iowa2 bills
Nevada2 bills
11
Introduced
1
Crossed Over
6
Enacted
3
Vetoed
19
Dead
2024
13 bills introduced in 9 states
New Hampshire3 bills
Illinois2 bills
New Jersey2 bills
5
Enacted
8
Dead
2023
4 bills introduced in 4 states
Louisiana1 bill
Minnesota1 bill
Nevada1 bill
Washington1 bill
4
Enacted
Bill Tracker
Browse All Bills
2026
2025
2024
2023
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