Election integrity

Election integrity is a term used to describe the outcome of policies that election integrity proponents say protect elections from domestic and foreign interference, improve election administration, and prevent voter fraud. In recent years, there has been debate about what policies promote election integrity or instead constitute voter suppression.

This page provides examples of how election integrity is used as a term in three case studies:

• Georgia Election Integrity Act of 2021
• Voter identification laws
• Voter list maintenance

This page also includes background on the term's popularity over time.

For an article on the use of the term voter suppression, click here.

Usage case studies

Announcing the formation of a Committee on Election Integrity in February 2021, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel defined election integrity:

“	Election integrity is one of the most critical issues we face as a Party and as a country. What we saw this past election – states undoing important safeguards, bypassing the proper legislative processes, and changing election laws in the eleventh hour – was deeply troubling and brought chaos and uncertainty to our sacred democratic processes. ... The RNC will play a crucial role in restoring confidence in our elections, promoting election integrity, and recommending best practices to ensure that future elections are free, fair, and transparent.	”
—Ronna McDaniel

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) similarly discussed election integrity bills in March 2021, saying, "Our objective in Texas is to ensure that every eligible voter gets to vote and that only eligible ballots are counted. In the 2020 election, we witnessed actions throughout our state that could risk the integrity of our elections and enable voter fraud, which is why I made election integrity an emergency item this session.

This section includes examples of laws and policies that have been described as promoting election integrity.

Click here for a discussion of these laws by officials and analysts who describe them as voter suppression.

Georgia Election Integrity Act of 2021

In March 2021, the Georgia State Legislature passed the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which changed the state's electoral administration procedures. In an op-ed discussing the law, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who signed the bill into law, said, "The Election Integrity Act makes it easy to vote by expanding access to the polls and harder to cheat by ensuring the security of the ballot box."

Key provisions of the bill include the following changes to election procedure:

• The period to request absentee ballots was reduced from 180 days to 78 days prior to the election.
• Voters are required to include the number of their Georgia driver’s license or identification card to verify their identity on absentee ballots rather than a signature. Voters without an ID are required to include alternative forms of identification, including birth date and social security number.
• Absentee ballot applications are prohibited from being automatically mailed.
• Dropbox locations were limited by the number of active registered voters and advance voting locations in the county.
• Mobile voting centers were prohibited unless the governor declared there was a state of emergency and authorized their use.
• The early voting period was set to begin four weeks before an election and required access to early voting on at least two Saturdays.
• No one, other than election officials, may provide food or drink to voters within 150 feet of a polling place or 25 feet of a voter standing in line. Voters may drink from a water fountain if one is available.
• Voters may not cast a provisional ballot at an incorrect precinct before 5 p.m.
• Poll hours may only be extended for the same duration of time as voters were unable to vote.
• Absentee ballots may be opened and inspected three weeks before an election, but they may not be counted until the polls close.
• The secretary of state was removed as a voting member of the state's election board. The board will have a chairperson elected by the Georgia General Assembly.
• The state election board will have the power to suspend county election officials if they meet certain standards for negligence or malfeasance.

Supporters of the law said its provisions expanded access and made voting easier. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said in a statement, "HB 316 is a bipartisan bill which prioritizes the interests of our communities and represents a victory for the common-sense solutions which are supported overwhelmingly by Georgia’s voters and elections officials. Chairman Fleming and Members of the House should be applauded for responding to partisan rhetoric and accusations with a real plan for progress.”

State Rep. Barry Fleming (R), the chairman of the Special Committee on Election Integrity, said, "This legislation will guarantee ballot access for every eligible voter while protecting election integrity and prioritizing transparency—while also keeping more hard-earned money in our taxpayers’ pockets.”

The Heritage Foundation—a think tank that says it promotes the "principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, [and] traditional American values"—praised the law for eliminating ballot harvesting and private funding of state and local election boards. It said this would "prevent outside actors from tipping the scales in public elections."

Aubrey Shines from Conservative Clergy of Color responded to criticism that the bill limited voting access: "[Joe Biden] and [Stacey Abrams] keep saying the Election Integrity Act is worse than Jim Crow, which is an insult to the millions of Black Americans. The truth is that this law actually expands access to the ballot box, while also taking common-sense steps to protect the sanctity of every legal vote. We believe that it should be easy to vote and hard to cheat and the Georgia Integrity Act makes that possible for all voters."

Usage around voter identification laws

See also: Voter identification laws by state, Arguments for and against voter identification laws, and Voter suppresssion and voter identification laws

Voter identification laws require voters to present a form of identification to cast a ballot. Supporters of voter identification laws say they are necessary for ensuring fair elections by preventing voter fraud.

The Heritage Foundation outlined four ways an individual could commit voter fraud:

“

Voting in someone else’s name. Registering in multiple locations to vote multiple times in the same election. Voting even though they’re not eligible because they’re felons or noncitizens. Or paying or intimidating people to vote for certain candidates.

”

The organization said, "When someone commits voter fraud, the process is no longer fair, everyone’s vote gets diluted, and in some cases, election results are changed. ... Since states control much of the electoral process, they must pass laws requiring government-issued IDs to vote. That ensures people aren’t stealing others’ identities and their right to vote. ... Something as critical as election integrity can’t be left to a simple honor system."

Chuck DeVore of The Texas Public Policy Foundation said, "Legislative efforts to improve election integrity should be focused on improving identification safeguards for mail-in ballots and voter list maintenance." DeVore said election integrity in Texas was threatened by a quintupling of mail-in ballot use between 2012 and 2020, along with "poorly maintained voter lists and weak voter verification." The Texas Public Policy Foundation said its "mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas."

Usage around voter list maintenance

See also: Arguments for and against using voter inactivity as a trigger to remove names from voter lists and Voter suppression and voter roll purges

Changes to a jurisdiction’s voter rolls are processes by which names of voters are removed from a state’s list of eligible voters in a given election. This process is typically done to remove ineligible or duplicated voting records in an effort to ensure that only voters eligible in a state or district can cast a ballot in that state or district. Voter list maintenance is often done by consulting the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File or the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address Database. Voter rolls are also routinely maintained by removing inactive voters.

According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan commission established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, “Maintaining an accurate voting roll enfranchises voters because it lowers the likelihood of lines at the polls, reduces voter confusion and decreases the number of provisional ballots. Updated records also allow election administrators to plan, to better manage their budget and poll workers, and to improve voter experience.”

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a law in May 2021 that would remove infrequent mail voters from the state's early voting list if they had not voted by mail for two consecutive election cycles and responded to a notice from election officials. Ducey said, "This bill is simple. It's all about election integrity. ... This change will ensure that active voters continue to receive a ballot and free up resources for county recorders to use on election security and voter education."

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a self-described conservative litigation center, said voter roll maintenance is “about accountability, the rule of law, and clean and fair elections." In 2019, the organization said the Wisconsin Elections Commission was putting the state's "election integrity at risk by intentionally ignoring state law to allow voter registrations at old addresses to remain active."

Historical usage

The term election integrity increased in use by federal legislators beginning with the 114th Congress, which convened in 2015 and 2016. It was mentioned in more bills (35) between 2015 and 2020 than the previous 30 years (22) combined.

Background

Confidence that votes in the United States would be accurately cast and counted fluctuated between 2004 and 2020, according to a Gallup survey published in October 2020. Ninety-one percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters were very or somewhat confident in 2006 compared to 44% in 2020. The confidence of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters rose between 2004 and 2016 from 60% to 83%, before dropping to 66% in 2018 and 74% in 2020.

According to a Google Trends report, interest in the terms voter suppression and election integrity grew between 2004 and 2021, with the largest spikes taking place around the presidential election every four years.

Partisan support and opposition to different policies viewed as promoting voter suppression or election integrity also diverged around the 2020 presidential election. According to a Pew Research Center study, between October 2018 to April 2021, Republican support for removing infrequent voters from voter registration lists increased from 53% to 68%. Democratic support also increased from 24% to 27%.

Over the same time period, Republican support for automatically registering all eligible citizens to vote decreased from 49% to 38%. Democratic support increased from 78% to 82%. Republican support for no-excuse early and absentee voting decreased from 57% to 38%. Democratic support remained steady from 83% to 84%.

See also

• Voting policies in the United States
• Electoral fraud
• Voter suppression