As early voting for the November general election continues across much of the country, The Heritage Foundation has released its latest assessment of election integrity in every state and the District of Columbia through its Election Integrity Scorecard.
The Election Integrity Scorecard, which was launched in 2021, evaluates states based on 50 criteria of best practices for fair, secure, and honest elections. This includes a detailed review of laws, regulations, and procedures governing elections and their administration by election officials.
Hans von Spakovsky, manager of Heritage’s Election Law Reform Initiative and senior legal fellow, explained that updates to the Scorecard were made starting in January to include new criteria. These updates track the type and frequency of state-election audits as well as the use of ranked-choice voting. Von Spakovsky stated:
“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, added:
“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.”
According to October's rankings from The Heritage Foundation's assessment:
- Tennessee leads with an overall score of 90.
- Alabama, Florida, and Georgia are tied for second place with scores of 83 each.
- Oklahoma ranks fifth with a score of 82.
- South Carolina follows closely at sixth place with a score of 81.
- Arkansas and Missouri both scored 80.
- Indiana and Louisiana each scored 79.
These top-ranking states have adopted strong voter-ID requirements among other measures aimed at maintaining accurate voter rolls and managing mail-in ballot security.
Conversely:
- Hawaii (27), Nevada (28), California (30), Vermont (38), and Oregon (38) received some of the lowest scores due to lacking voter ID requirements among other issues related to voter roll accuracy and mail-in ballot security.
Since its inception in 2021:
- Four states—Nebraska, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Ohio—have made double-digit improvements in their overall scores.
- A total of 27 states have improved their election integrity scores since then.
More information about The Heritage Foundation's Election Integrity Scorecard can be found online.
