Following Election Integrity Mandate, States Should Take These Steps To Secure Elections
The 2024 election is over, but the hard work of building trust in our elections is just beginning. Conservative states like Florida, Georgia, and Texas have made great strides in the last few years. The laws they passed helped deliver a high turnout, high confidence election. But election integrity faces ongoing challenges both new and old, which is why our conservative states must double down on robust election reforms in 2025.
One of the most urgent threats to election integrity comes from foreign interference. While existing laws prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to political candidates, loopholes allow them to fund campaigns to dramatically reshape state constitutions and even rewrite foundational voting laws through ballot initiatives.
This loophole is already being exploited. One left-wing group, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, has so far taken over $240 million from a Swiss billionaire named Hansjorg Wyss, all while dumping roughly $130 million into ballot measure campaigns in 25 states. So long as this loophole exists, foreign activists and even hostile powers like China and Russia have a means to directly influence the DNA of our republic. This year, Ohio passed groundbreaking legislation banning foreign funding of ballot measures. 2025 should be the year that every state follows suit.
It should also be the year that states put an end to ranked-choice voting (RCV). Time and again, RCV has proven to be confusing, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Proponents claim it improves democracy, but in truth, it does the opposite. Voters must rank candidates, so voting takes longer, and the tortuous process of eliminating candidates and redistributing votes can lead to convoluted—and even incorrect—outcomes. In one glaring example, Oakland, California, certified the wrong winner in an RCV election in 2022. This year in Portland, Oregon, participation plummeted with 20% of voters leaving their ballots entirely blank in the ranked-choice race for city council.
Before the 2024 election, 10 states passed laws banning RCV. Left-wing donors like John and Laura Arnold fought back, pouring $100 million into RCV ballot measures in six states. Voters rejected them all, in red and blue states alike, while Missouri voters enshrined an RCV ban in the state constitution. But the cabal behind RCV isn’t stopping. They now say they will lobby legislatures to impose what the voters just rejected. The best response from lawmakers would be to ban RCV instead.
That will keep voting simple. Empowering secretaries of state to audit election processes will keep them transparent and accountable. Process audits help make sure that election officials follow the law, that equipment functions correction, and ballots are being handled and processed properly. They go beyond merely confirming results; they evaluate every step of an election, identify problems, and help officials implement solutions.
Clean voter rolls are another cornerstone of election integrity. Outdated lists open the door to fraud and errors. States should require that officials check their rolls against databases like the National Change of Address registry, the Social Security Death Index, jury records, and the federal SAVE database to identify and remove people who have died, moved away, or are not citizens. Noncitizens should be barred from registering or voting in any state or local election.
Mail voting also requires tighter safeguards. Organized vote harvesting should be banned, with vote collection limited to caregivers, immediate family members, or officials operating in bipartisan teams. States should ban groups from sending pre-filled and unsolicited voter registration forms, as well as applications to vote by mail. Ballots should only be mailed if a voter specifically asks for one. Voter ID laws should be applied to mail ballots, and states should require that ballots be received by the time polls close on Election Day.
It is also time for states to reevaluate excessively long early voting periods. Voting early can be a valuable tool for increasing participation, but the demand for 30 or 45 days of early voting is driven more by a desire by left-wing groups to ballot harvest than any legitimate need for six weeks of voting. Polling shows that roughly 80% of the public favors two weeks or less of early voting, with weekend time, ensuring that voting is convenient and sane.
All of these reforms enjoy broad, bipartisan support with the public. No matter what the Left says, laws like these build trust and encourage people to vote. States across the country should make passing these reforms a priority in 2025. After all, no matter what Oprah says, 2024 was not the last election in America. That means the work of building confidence in elections is never over.
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Jason Snead is the Executive Director of Honest Elections Project Action.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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