WASHINGTON—As early voting for the November general election is in full swing for much of the country, The Heritage Foundation has released its latest assessment of how every state and the District of Columbia does in terms of election integrity with the Election Integrity Scorecard.
While many states have improved the security of their elections, others have neglected to make any improvements. Some have even backtracked by eliminating necessary security measures.
The Election Integrity Scorecard, launched in 2021, is based on 50 criteria of best practices for fair, secure, and honest elections, as well as an in-depth review of the laws, regulations, and procedures governing elections and their administration by election officials in every state.
Beginning in January, Heritage updated the Scorecard’s criteria to track the type and frequency of state-election audits as well as the use of ranked-choice voting, a chaotic practice that confuses voters, dilutes their preferences, and disenfranchises voters.
Hans von Spakovsky, manager of Heritage’s Election Law Reform Initiative, senior legal fellow, and author of the Scorecard, said these updates represent Heritage’s commitment to keeping abreast of the latest challenges undermining the integrity of the election process and public faith in the fairness and honesty of elections. He added:
“I have been working on elections for three decades as a local election official, a Justice Department lawyer, a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, and a researcher concerned with developing the best practices possible for securing the franchise. The Election Integrity Scorecard is a vital tool that can and should be used by legislators, government officials, and the public to ensure that their states put in place the best system possible for clean and honest elections.”
John Malcolm, vice president of Heritage’s Institute for Constitutional Government, also made the following statement:
“The Heritage Foundation remains committed to improving the election process across the United States so that every eligible voter is able to cast a ballot in an honest election with full confidence that his or her ballot will be properly counted and not voided due to errors, mistakes, or fraud.”
As of October, the top state in the country for overall election integrity is Tennessee with a score of 90. Alabama, Florida, and Georgia are tied for second place with a score of 83 each. Oklahoma is in 5th place with a score of 82 followed closely by South Carolina (81), Arkansas and Missouri (80 each), and Indiana and Louisiana (79 each).
These states adopted strong voter-ID requirements, implemented effective practices to maintain the accuracy of their voter rolls and better manage the security of mail-in ballots, and restricted risky practices, such as same-day and automatic voter registration.
The states with the lowest scores and worst practices in administering their elections are Hawaii (27), Nevada (28), California (30), Vermont (38), and Oregon (38), largely because of their lack of voter ID requirements and minimal efforts to ensure the accuracy of their voter rolls or the custody and security of mail-in ballots.
Many states, including some outside the current top ten, have made major gains in the last three years. Since 2021, four states—Nebraska, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Ohio—have made double-digit improvements in their overall scores. Overall, 27 states have improved their election integrity scores since the Scorecard first premiered.
Learn more about the Scorecard here.
