I'm not sure if you guys tested the Address State / Province required field when the country is not the USA.
If you pick the Philippines for example, the state/province combo box is empty and it should not be a combo box if you don't have any items inside it to choose from.
This field should automatically change to a regular text field and not a combo box.

Wow! Even on the cart's checkout shipping page - the customer can easily get stuck with the state/province combo box field... Man, this is a bust! It's weak broo...

Yea it sucks.
You better fill them out inside Country menu if am not mistaken. Because that's what I do.