The question of election integrity is not going away. As Justice Clarence Thomas recently pointed out, addressing weaknesses and opacity in election processes and voting laws isn’t just about 2020. The efforts being undertaken currently across the substantial majority of states are about finding a way that American voters can regain confidence in the security of their elections before the 2022 and 2024 seasons. Otherwise, those elections will also be questioned, potentially compromised, and our democratic process rendered illegitimate in the minds of tens of millions of Americans.
With the courts having closed their doors, the states are now taking up the issue of election integrity with just such an eye to the future. Analysis reveals at least 300 new bills being considered across 43 states to address voter integrity and election security. Many of these bills are in states that were the most controversial and closely contested in November, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These proposals have been met with shrill and knee-jerk cries of “Racism!”—including from quarters which should know better, such as the CEOs of Delta and Coca-Cola (in response to Georgia’s newly enacted laws). However, a recent poll confirms that 75 percent of Americans, including 60 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of African Americans, support the common-sense idea that voters should show identification before voting. We show IDs to board planes, rent cars, check into hotels and pick up baseball tickets, so why not to cast a ballot, the highest responsibility and privilege of citizenship?