2023-2024 Litigation Report: The Most Litigated Election in History
Democracy Docket tracked voting rights and election-related litigation leading up to the 2024 election. Despite a wave of lawsuits aimed at restricting voting access, courts consistently ruled in favor of voters. Here’s a breakdown of the most litigated election cycle in history.
For the purposes of this report, we excluded lawsuits in our database that are categorized as redistricting lawsuits, election subversion indictments, 14th Amendment challenges and post-election cases related to the November 2024 general election.
Lawsuits Filed
Over 300 democracy-related lawsuits were filed this election cycle. As expected, the pace of litigation increased in the second half of the cycle with a total of 228 lawsuits in 2024 — more than double the 82 lawsuits filed in 2020.
Election administration and registration were the most litigated categories this cycle, representing a shift from 2020 where 63% of all litigation concerned vote by mail.
Battleground states saw the most litigation this cycle with over half of all lawsuits filed in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Pennsylvania led the states with a total of 36 lawsuits, followed by Georgia with 31 lawsuits and Arizona with 23 lawsuits.
Anti-voting Efforts
In total, Democracy Docket tracked 158 anti-voting lawsuits this cycle. While pro-voting lawsuits dominated the beginning of the cycle, 84% of anti-voting lawsuits were filed in the second half of the cycle.
The GOP continued to lead anti-voting litigation efforts, filing 52% of all anti-voting lawsuits and engaging in 41% of all democracy-related lawsuits this cycle as plaintiffs, through intervention, funding or filing amicus briefs.
Republicans also focused heavily on battleground states, filing 58% of their lawsuits across seven key states.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) stepped up its litigation efforts under new leadership this year. After filing only six lawsuits in 2020, the RNC filed 24 lawsuits in 2024 and engaged in 18% of all lawsuits this cycle. The Trump campaign itself filed five lawsuits.
Throughout this cycle, the largest number of anti-voting litigation was filed over the rules for conducting elections and voter registration. Within the registration category, the largest surge in litigation was fueled by right-wing claims of inaccurate voter rolls and noncitizen voting. Most of these claims came in the final months of the cycle and were largely rejected by courts.
Despite the party’s overwhelming focus on election administration and registration, the RNC and Trump campaign continued to target vote by mail policies in key battleground states.
Pro-voting Efforts
Pro-voting forces filed 145 lawsuits this cycle. However, private groups and organizations filed the majority of pro-voting litigation, accounting for 68% of these cases. Democrats, on the other hand, filed 17 % of all pro-voting lawsuits this cycle and engaged in 16% of all democracy-related lawsuits.
The Democratic National Committee filed nine lawsuits in 2024 — four more than in 2020. However, due to the sheer volume of litigation, the proportion of lawsuits it filed was smaller. Democrats filed two-thirds of their lawsuits in battleground states during the election cycle, but they did not surpass the number of lawsuits filed by Republicans in these states.
Democrats filed six lawsuits in Georgia — half were in response to last-minute rules passed by the state election board.
Outcomes
Despite the surge of litigation this cycle, pro-voting forces saw almost three times as many victories as losses.
This accounts for a 131% increase in victories between 2023 and 2024. Fifty-seven percent of all victories for voters came in the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Nearly 60% of those victories came in lawsuits filed by Republicans and anti-voting groups.
This was a record-breaking election cycle for democracy-related litigation. Republicans increased their anti-voting litigation efforts, but voters continued to see victories in courts across the country.
2025 will mark the beginning of a new election cycle with renewed focus on preserving democracy. If previous trends continue, the dockets will continue to be flooded with litigation heading into the midterm elections. As Republicans continue to scale up their litigation efforts — bolstered by a new U.S. Department of Justice that is likely to be hostile to voting rights — Democrats and pro-voting groups will fuel the opposition. Democracy Docket will continue to cover and track cases impacting voters in 2025 and beyond.
Here is a PDF of this report that can be downloaded and shared.
You can find the full methodology for this report here.