Kerby Anderson

Now that the 2024 election is in the rearview mirror, there are some steps we need to take to improve our future elections. Much of this needed to be done four years ago, but anytime you talked about improving our electoral process, you were usually accused of trying to change the election. Now that this election was more decisive, it provides an opportunity to make some needed changes.

That’s why I invited Hans von Spakovsky to come on my radio program. He was a member of the Federal Election Commission, is the senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and is the manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative.

When he is asked about the state of election integrity, he responds that we are in better shape nationally than we were last time, but much depends on what state you live in and vote in. Sadly, he also pointed out there is also a problem with state attorneys general and secretaries of state who are unwilling to enforce good state election laws.

On my program, he talked about the fact that he often is tasked with briefing European election observers. They are shocked and astounded to find out that two states with some of the nation’s largest populations do NOT require ID to vote.

Every state has work to do. He has put together an “Election Integrity Scorecard” that analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It provided an assessment of laws, regulations, and administrative practices of each state. He reported that no state scored 100 when he launched the Scorecard, and that is still the case.

Our goal for elections in this country should be “to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.” Before the next important election, let’s get to work.