Which States Improved Election Integrity?

Americans desire and deserve secure elections. Yet, a large majority of Americans are concerned about the integrity of elections – mostly because of all the questions about the 2020 presidential election. Now, we are headed into the 2024 presidential election, and election integrity issues are rising to the top again.

Most Americans understand that fair, honest, and secure elections are necessary for our democratic republic to survive. Zack Smith and Hans von Spakovsky at The Heritage Foundation gave some enlightenment about how states are preparing for the 2024 election. 

Because the Framers of our Constitution placed primary responsibility on the states to administer and set out the rules and procedures that apply in our elections, that’s where most battles over election integrity have been – and will continue to be – fought. Fortunately, the citizens of many states, their legislators, and even judges who hear challenges to recent commonsense election reforms all are starting to understand the importance of safe and secure elections.

For instance, the citizens of Louisiana overwhelmingly voted Oct. 14, by a margin of 72.6% to 27.4%, to prohibit private or foreign funding to administer and conduct elections. The voters’ decision bans the so-called Zuck Bucs that Facebook founder Mrk Zuckerberg donated, via a pass-through nonprofit, to many local election officials during the 2020 cycle….

In North Carolina, the Legislature overrode the veto of the state’s Democrat governor, Roy Cooper, a long-time enemy of election integrity, so that SB 747 can go into effect and become law.

Among other actions, the bill provides additional safeguards for the absentee voting process. It will require any absentee ballots to arrive by the close of polling places on Election Day in order to be counted. It also will provide greater access for election observers to monitor what’s happening at local polls….

In Georgia, a federal judge declined to issue a preliminary injunction against, or halt enforcement of, a law passed by the Legislature, which enacted several election integrity measures. The judge found that those bringing the challenge were not substantially likely to succeed in showing that the new Georgia law intentionally discriminated against black voters….

A review of similar laws passed by Florida’s Legislature around the same time also fund no adverse impacts on black or other minorities.

Finally, in Tennessee, a law prohibiting third parties from passing out the state’s official form requesting an absentee ballot can remain on the books. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6^th Circuit rightly rejected a challenge to this law….

Although all of this is good news, it’s important to remain vigilant. Last month, Pennsylvania’s governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro, said he “implemented automatic voter registration [to] save taxpayers money and streamline the voter registration process,” without any apparent legal authority to do so.

But despite the assurances of Shapiro and Pennsylvania election officials, past experiences with this type of registration shows, in the words of a Heritage Foundation report, that it “could result in the registration of large numbers of ineligible voters as well as multiple or duplicate registrations of the same individuals.” It also “presents a sure formula for registration and voter fraud that could damage the integrity of elections,” the report said.

Moreover, Pennsylvania is the same place where the secretary of state, Democrat Pedro Cortés, was forced to resign some years ago after his office admitted that a glitch in the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles system allowed illegal aliens to register to vote for decades. However, the state so far has successfully refused to disclose how many aliens registered and voted. [Emphasis added.]

Smith and von Spakovsky stated that there will be “many more election integrity fights” on the horizon. Although there is good news on the issue of voter integrity, the example of Pennsylvania shows that some people still encourage voter fraud.