Why Election Integrity is Vital to Ensure Trust in Our Elections

Election integrity is a significant issue amongst a majority of American voters. Many of these voters believe there are inconsistencies with our elections which result in a fixed outcome. It is vital that our elected leaders fix these problems or Americans will continue to lose trust in our election system.

A recent Gallup poll shows that 8 out of 10 Americans support voter identification requirements. However, more needs to be done regarding voter I.D. at the national level. Thus, it has been up to the states to institute their own voter I.D. requirements. For example, in 2021, Georgia instituted voter I.D. laws. It resulted in an intense backlash that had Major League Baseball (MLB) relocate the All-Star game, which was originally planned to be held in Atlanta, to Denver, CO. However, Colorado has even stricter voter I.D. laws than Georgia. This made the whole scenario political theater. States like Georgia are leading the way to make voting a lot easier and make it harder to cheat.

Voter I.D. is not the only issue that is pressing for voters regarding faith in our elections. A recent Monmouth University poll shows about 7 out of 10 Americans support early voting (EV). EV has been a hot-button issue since it was first introduced a couple of years ago. Many Republican voters vote traditionally in person on election day. I have done EV in the past and it is just like voting on election day just it is not on the actual date of the election. The process, which took less than 5 minutes, is very clear and I was in and out of my polling location. On the other hand, the majority of Democratic voters tend to take advantage of the opportunities presented with EV and vote-by-mail (VBM). On the other side, Republicans have struggled with EV and VBM due to their base’s hesitance to use either method. The Republican Party must find ways to get their base to confidently embrace these methods or the GOP will continue to suffer in these elections.

It is also essential to clean our voter rolls every few months to remove names of people who moved out of state or passed away. The Election Information Registration Center (ERIC) is supposedly in charge of keeping the voter rolls nationwide neat. Going into the 2022 Midterm Election, 32 states were members of ERIC. Since then, numerous states left. Some of which include Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas.

Many of these states cited data security concerns and ERIC’s left-wing outlook. Judicial Watch came out with an article citing ERIC’s controversial left-wing ties, including colluding with the Democratic Party and doing an insufficient job of cleaning voter rolls. It comes to the conclusion that it is up to the taxpayer to clean the voter rolls themselves since ERIC has not been doing the job they are supposed to do.

If you are concerned with election integrity in your state, consider the following options. First, become a poll worker. I have been a poll worker in the past and I have found it to be very enjoyable. The pay is very well and you get to witness each voter coming in to cast their ballot. You will also report back to your board of elections in case a problem arises. Next, if you are someone who will not be in town on the day of an election consider voting by mail. Your vote will still count as it was when you voted. As long as your mail your ballot in before the polls close your vote will count. Lastly, be involved in counting ballots after the polls close. It is good pay and you will ensure that no fraud happens in our election. In the case where fraud does occur, you will be able to report it.