Voter Identification Requirements and Voter Roll Maintenance Protect Elections

  • As mail-in voting has expanded substantially since 2020, states should implement ballot security measures such as requiring voters to provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number. 
  • While 36 states have enacted some form of voter ID law, more states should require photo identification with no alternative. 
  • To prevent foreign nationals from ending up on voter lists, states must stop automatic voter registration from occurring when individuals apply for driver’s licenses and require documentary proof of citizenship at the point of voter registration.

Voter Confidence Depends on Sound Election Administration

  • Proper election records retention is both required by law for at least 22 months following a federal election and essential for preventing record destruction and ensuring accountability. 
  • To separate election administration from partisan pressure or politics, states must maintain bipartisan boards of elections, transparent public processes, and clear separation between election functions and political offices.
  • Despite its popularity, ranked choice voting rarely reflects the will of the people accurately, prolongs uncertainty, hurts public confidence, increases confusion, and creates new election vulnerabilities.

Election Infrastructure Security Must Be Prioritized

  • Voting machines in the United States need to be updated to meet the baseline minimum standards for software, testing, and certification. 
  • Lacking domestic manufacturing requirements and centralized manufacturing and acquisition, the voting machines industry poses serious doubts about reliability.
  • Due to a lack of transparency in source coding, hardware manufacturing, and supply chain vulnerabilities, hand-marked paper ballots are demonstrably superior to voting machines.

Click HERE to read the policy focus and learn more about securing American elections.