Election Transparency Initiative
Advancing transparent, secure, and accountable elections
Mission
Election Transparency is the Foundation of Voter Confidence
Heritage’s Election Transparency Initiative is a national effort to preserve voter confidence in American elections by increasing transparency, security, and accountability in elections.
Americans must be confident their elections are conducted fairly in accordance with the Constitution. That confidence depends on several commonsense safeguards. The voting process must be transparent and consistent. Voters must understand how their elections are administered, how eligibility is verified, and how their ballots are processed.
The Election Transparency Initiative educates public and private stakeholders on the risks and the reforms necessary to maintain election integrity. By supporting policies that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, we help safeguard the legitimacy of election outcomes and preserve Americans' trust in the electoral process.
What is Election Transparency?
Election transparency means ensuring that elections are administered openly, lawfully, and in accordance with constitutional principles.
Americans should be able to trust that only eligible citizens vote, that every lawful vote is counted accurately, and that election laws are enforced consistently and transparently. Transparent election systems help voters understand each step in the electoral process, from registration to final tabulation.
Election transparency is not about restricting lawful voting, but preserving public confidence in their elections. By reinforcing clear constitutional standards, strengthening election administration, and ensuring accountability, citizens can have confidence their vote matters.
When voters trust the electoral process, they will more likely trust the outcome. Thus, the Election Transparency Initiative works to strengthen that confidence.
What We Do
Heritage’s Election Transparency Initiative advances election integrity through four core areas:
Federal Policy Engagement
Supporting federal policy and oversight to reinforce constitutional election safeguards. We focus on measures like citizenship verification, voter list maintenance, and prioritizing state authority over election administration.
State-Level Reform Support
Working with policymakers and coalition partners across the country to advance practical, lawful reforms to strengthen election administration while improving transparency and increasing voter confidence.
Strategic Communications and Public Education
Providing analysis, commentary, and rapid-response engagement to public and private stakeholders.
Coalition Coordination
Bringing together national and state organizations, legal experts, and policy leaders to help advance durable reforms to strengthen election transparency.
Our Principles
Policies That Strengthen Election Transparency and Integrity
We support common-sense policies to bolster public confidence in election administration, while ensuring every lawful vote is counted accurately and fairly.
These include:
- Accurate voter registration lists through routine, lawful list maintenance
- Verification of voter eligibility and citizenship consistent with constitutional and statutory requirements
- Voter identification requirements to help ensure ballots are cast only by eligible voters
- Secure, traceable, and verifiable absentee and mail-ballot systems
- Strong chain-of-custody protections for ballots
- Meaningful and free access for election observers
- Counting ballots according to timelines established by law
The Election Transparency Initiative opposes policies which reduce transparency, weaken safeguards, and erode public trust in election administration.
We oppose:
- Same-day voter registration without adequate eligibility verification safeguards
- Automatic voter registration systems that risk adding ineligible individuals to voter rolls
- Private funding of government election offices
- Efforts to weaken or eliminate voter identification requirements
- Election administration practices that reduce transparency or limit observer access
