The 2020 election saw widespread allegations of election fraud that led to serious questions about the legitimacy of the outcome. While there remain noteworthy areas of concern heading into this year’s elections, a handful of key battleground states have made great strides in fortifying election integrity.
Here are some of the most notable advancements that will help ensure fair and transparent contests this fall.
Arizona
In a massive win for efforts to prevent illegal aliens from casting ballots, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled by a 5-4 margin that Arizona can enforce a 2022 law requiring proof of citizenship for individuals who are registering to vote. The ruling follows an emergency appeal from the Republican National Committee, which requested that the High Court pause a lower court ruling against the law.
“This is a major victory for election integrity that upholds a simple principle: American elections must be decided by American citizens,” said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley following the ruling. “While Democrats have worked to undermine basic election safeguards and make it easier for non-citizens to vote, we have fought tooth and nail to preserve citizenship requirements, see the law enforced, and secure our elections. The Supreme Court has sided with the RNC, and the American people, to protect the vote in November.”
Although the provision of the law that requires individuals to present proof of citizenship upon registering to vote is now in effect, the Court declined to issue a broader ruling that requiring proof of citizenship when individuals actually show up to vote.
Even so, Arizona citizens can now be more confident that illegal aliens are not unlawfully influencing the outcome of their elections.
Georgia
Another victory for election integrity came in the Peach State, where the Georgia State Election Board recently voted to allow discrepancy checks on ballots before the results are certified—empowering election officials to investigate any discrepancies between the number of cast ballots and the number of voters in each precinct.
Democrats and the corporate media have predictably spiraled into a fit of outrage following the rule change, baselessly claiming that the new rules will disenfranchise voters and sow confusion among the public. But as election integrity experts have pointed out, the law will give the public more confidence that their elections are being conducted fairly and accurately.
“I was astounded by the opposition to this rule that just says that votes cast and counted should match the number of people who came to vote,” said Hans von Spakovsky, a scholar at the Heritage Foundation. “The fact that anyone opposes it is unbelievable.”
With national polling in Georgia showing a potentially razor-thin race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, this new rule is even more urgently needed.
Pennsylvania
In the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania, a judge recently upheld a decision from the Butler County Board of Elections that prohibits voters from “curing,” or attempting to “fix,” defective mail-in ballots.
The Keystone State requires voters who submit their votes by mail to place their ballots in an inner secrecy envelope. During the 2024 primary elections, several votes cast were rejected by the Butler County Board because the ballots were submitted without being placed in the secrecy envelope.
“The actions of the Board in adopting a narrow cure policy that applies in such a way as to uphold voting deadlines and ensure secrecy in voting is maintained, but that allows electors the greatest possible chance of having their vote counted, does not violate either the Election Code or the Free and Equal clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution,” ruled Pennsylvania Judge S. Michael Yeager. “It is the voter’s burden to ensure they have completed the steps necessary for their mail-in ballot to be included in the tabulation.”
Allowing election officials who may have their own partisan motivations to tamper with voters’ ballots is a serious threat to election integrity. This Pennsylvania decision goes a long way toward addressing that concern – although the ruling is now facing an appeal that may or may not be decided by November.
Virginia
In one of the most seismic victories for election integrity to date, earlier this month, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a landmark Executive Order mandating that elections in the Old Dominion will be administered with only paper ballots.
“The Virginia model for Election Security works. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American and Virginian issue. Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines. In Virginia, we don’t play games and our model for election security is working,” Youngkin said in a statement.
“We use 100% paper ballots with a strict chain of custody. We use counting machines, not voting machines, that are tested prior to every election and never connected to the internet,” he continued. “We do not use mass mail ballots. We monitor our drop boxes 24/7. We verify the legal presence and identity of voters using DMV data and other trusted data sources to update our voter rolls daily, not only adding new voters, but scrubbing the lists to remove those that should not be on it, like the deceased, individuals that have moved, and non-citizens that have accidentally or maliciously attempted to register.”
Though conventional wisdom among the media class holds that Donald Trump will fall short of the threshold needed to secure Virginia’s 13 electoral votes this fall, recent polling indicates that the Commonwealth is very much in play—and Youngkin’s landmark executive order will help ensure that voters can be confident in the outcome either way.
For the good of election integrity, transparency in our voting laws, and the cause of American democracy itself, every voter—Republican, Democrat, and Independent—should be grateful for these changes and urge other elected officials to follow suit.
Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.
