election integrity

Six ways to increase confidence in elections

President-elect Donald Trump lost the election in 2020 and won in 2024. Both election nights, though, brought the same sense of uneasiness to many Trump supporters. It wasn’t about the anticipation of who would be the victor, although each election was quite exciting. Election night is our Super Bowl of politics.    

Rather, it was wondering if the election results would be fair, honest, and accurate.

There’s reason for concern.

At a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Board of Elections meeting, Democratic Commissioner, Diane Ellis-Marseglia, blatantly—and without fear of consequences—stated that she would not adhere to state election laws and intended to count unlawful votes.  

The Republican National Committee immediately responded. Having deployed 100,000 volunteers and attorneys across battleground states, it was ready for any shenanigans. It sometimes takes the threat of legal action to ensure a fair, honest, and accurate vote. That’s where we’re at.

In the future, there may be weariness in fighting so hard for the truth. We may not always have the fortitude to bring in thousands of lawyers during election season just to protect the vote.

There must be a better way.

Voters do not have confidence in the election process. According to a 2024 Gallup poll, only 28% of Republicans have faith in the accuracy of the vote.

Trump will have many fires to put out when he takes office in January—reducing inflation, securing the border, and de-escalating tensions around the globe and averting another world war.

But election integrity reforms need to be a high priority, as well.

There are six ways we can restore voter confidence in our elections.

  1. Prosecute election officials who knowingly tamper with election results. It takes many good people to run an election. The vast majority are honest, and the system keeps them that way because at least one Democrat and Republican election official work together at the precinct level. And nobody wants to start punishing these individuals if an honest mistake is made. It’s hard enough to find people to fill these positions. But when interfering with elections is conclusively proven to be willful, legal action must be taken. There may be progressive Democrats and “Never Trumper” Republicans who think they’re saving democracy by distorting the vote. But their idea of saving democracy may not be as much fun if they know they will be publicly prosecuted for their misdeeds.
  2. Make Election Day a national holiday. It’s become that important. Give citizens every opportunity and no excuse to get to the polls on Election Day.
  3. Make absentee voting a rare occurrence. We will always have a need for some type of exceptions to voting in person on Election Day. Military serving overseas, those traveling on Election Day, the homebound and institutionalized, and essential workers—those working in the health care field or certain service industries who must still report to work on Election Day—must be given the opportunity to vote by absentee ballot. But keep the window to only four full weeks prior to the election. That’s more than enough time for these individuals to either vote in person at the county auditor’s office or to request a ballot by mail, receive it, vote, and return by mail so that it is received by Election Day. For everyone else, the expectation is to vote in person on Election Day—especially if the day becomes a national holiday.
  4. Use paper ballots that are hand-counted. According to TDMS Research, other major democracies—such as Germany, Norway, Netherlands, France, Canada, Denmark, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Finland—hand-count paper ballots in a publicly observable way. It’s not surprising that these countries have a far higher confidence in the honesty of their elections.
  5. Require precinct election officials to post unofficial vote counts on the state’s Secretary of State website before leaving the precinct. After ballots are delivered to the county auditor, require the county auditor to submit confirmed and official vote counts by precinct to the Secretary of State website in a timely manner. Also, submit county data for the absentee ballot results. Maintain these three data sets online. Store county absentee ballots and precinct ballots separately, in the event a recount is needed.  
  6. Lastly, to state the obvious, only adult citizens providing voter identification can be allowed to choose our governing leaders.

Prosecute bad actors, make Election Day a national holiday, make absentee voting a rare occurrence, use paper ballots only, post results immediately, and keep non-citizens from voting.

By doing this, election night will continue to be exciting without that sense of uneasiness.

We’re a bit of a sports-crazed nation, and so we understand that sometimes our team wins and sometimes it loses. We just want a fair competition.

Then—just like sports enthusiasts—voters can accept the results more easily and move forward.

Biden’s next executive order should address election integrity

Image by Shutterstock.

Unity was the theme of President Joe Biden’s inaugural speech. But unity, like respect and loyalty, cannot be achieved with demanding—or even pleading—words. It occurs after meaningful actions.

And nothing will bring unity faster than to solve problems important to most Americans.

Responses to a recent Gallup poll uncovered this list of top five problems to solve: coronavirus, the government and poor leadership, economic issues, racism, and election reform.

As the Unifier-in-Chief, Biden has issued plenty of executive orders to begin tackling problems.

Twelve have addressed the coronavirus. And because the economy was roaring before the virus arrived, it’s clear that any order dealing with COVID-19 will, at least indirectly, affect the economy.

One order focused on government and poor leadership. It’s the “Ethic Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel.” These individuals will be required to make an ethics pledge. Pledges are nice. It’s why children recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school, elected officials take an oath to defend the Constitution, and why we stand for the national anthem.

“Advancing Racial Equity and Support in Underserved Communities through the Federal Government,” will give increased support for racial issues. Rioting and protests broke out across the country for much of last year, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis. It’s just one order that wholly speaks to racism, but it’s a start. 

But of the top five problems that Americans have identified, Biden has given zero attention to election integrity. And, according to this poll, election reform scored as a higher concern than health care, immigration, the environment, education, crime, and several other categories.

State legislatures seem to concur. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports a flurry of activity since the election.

Alaska introduced a bill to require signature verification and establishes an election offense hotline. Arizona has pending legislation on creating a voting systems technology study committee, investigating voting irregularities, and using death records to help establish a more accurate voter database. Florida introduced a bill that prohibits use of voting systems and software that is made or designed in a foreign country. Indiana legislators correctly want voting systems that must store votes as whole numbers—one person, one vote—without the use of decimals or fractions. They are also working to establish a commission on election integrity. Kansas introduced a bill that prohibits backdating of postmarks on mail ballots. Kentucky has pending legislation requiring that no voting system be connected to the internet. New Jersey wants the Secretary of State to create a website for voters to report irregularities with mail ballots and establishes a commission to study voting by mail. They also introduced a bill requiring that half of any future, federal election funds go toward voting systems with paper records.

There are many more.

We’ve heard a lot from Biden about choosing hope over fear and facts over fiction.

The truth is that legislative activity at the state level and the Gallup poll show real concern that many have about election integrity. There’s also plenty of chatter in Congress about it.  

Mr. President, issue an executive order (or at least a memorandum) that allows for a bipartisan investigation into 2020 election procedures. Do not be fearful of what you will find. You’ve been installed as the 46th president of the United States. Nothing will change that. Instead, be hopeful that investigation results and facts will help to unify our country. Then you will have a better chance to “build back better.”  

A president, who truly wants to represent all the people, would address issues most important to the citizenry.       

And that’s a fact.