States Have Tightened Election Integrity Laws, But Conservative Group Says More Remains to Be Done

Dan M. BergerOctober 11, 2022

With widespread worries about election integrity prompted by the controversy that followed the 2020 election, some states have reformed their laws and procedures, but much more remains to be done, according to an analysis by a conservative nonprofit.

States across the nation made major adjustments to the voting process in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, including a massive expansion in mail-in voting. Republicans argued that the expansion created loopholes for voter fraud due to a lack of safeguards and voter identification rules.

States have come a long way since 2020, said Hans von Spakovsky, a Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow and manager of its election law reform initiative. But they still have more to do.

The Heritage Foundation scored and ranked the states for election integrity. The foundation looked at 12 areas, with more than two-thirds of the score weighted for three: Voter ID implementation, the accuracy of voter registration lists, and absentee ballot management.

Stacey Abrams, Democratic nominee for Georgia governor this year, has been prominent among those charging that the state’s Election Integrity Act was discriminatory “voter suppression.” Here she testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

States could score a maximum of 100 points. None do. If this were school, the best scores were only Bs. Tennessee has the best election integrity procedures in the country with a score of 84, followed closely by Georgia at 83, Alabama at 82, and Missouri with 80.

Ranked 51st on the list—50 states plus the District of Columbia—is Hawaii with 26. Only marginally better is Nevada at 28, California at 30, and Oregon at 38.

Fourteen states bettered their scores from the previous year, while only two worsened, Von Spakovsky and co-author Jack Fitzhenry wrote in The Daily Signal in August.

Heritage Foundaton electons expert