OPINION:
Last week the Republican National Committee released its election integrity report, an exhaustive, 24-page document created in consultation with 30 experts and steeped in extensive research. It’s the latest example of how the GOP is taking unprecedented steps to promote election integrity and restore voter confidence while ensuring voting remains accessible and easy to all eligible voters.
The report recognized the difficulty of administering an election during a pandemic but found that Democrats used COVID-19 to weaken ballot security by enacting sweeping, last-minute alterations to the election process across the country in 2020. Many of these changes were made by courts who disregarded long-standing laws, by Democrat governors who abused their emergency powers, and by officials such as secretaries of state who ignored laws duly passed by their legislatures. Some public officials used the pandemic as a pretense to expand mail voting and eliminate key absentee voting safeguards such as restrictions on ballot harvesting and ID and witness requirements.
Regardless of who they supported in 2020, all Americans have the right to be confident that their ballot was accurately recorded and their vote matters. Faith in our electoral process is the foundation of our republic.
That’s why the RNC allocated $40 million to election integrity efforts during the 2020 cycle. This investment funded lawsuits protecting ballot security, recounts, and the rights of poll watchers, which stemmed even worse damage to our elections and the rule of law.
It’s also why the RNC commissioned the Temporary Committee on Election Integrity to evaluate the party’s role in safeguarding our elections and recommend policies to avoid a repeat of these failures. The Committee recommends policymakers enact various common-sense election integrity safeguards such as voter identification requirements, eliminating same-day and automatic voter registration, enacting enforceable standards for counting absentee ballots, and prohibiting ballot harvesting. The report also recognized potential weaknesses in how we count our ballots and recommends states only use voting systems that produce an auditable paper record of a voter’s selections and enhanced voting machine cybersecurity, such as preventing internet or network connectivity at any stage of the elections process. And when states refuse to defend their own laws, states should allow for political parties and state legislatures to participate in election-related litigation.
The Republican Party is also installing a team of state-based election integrity directors and attorneys to establish a year-round, on-the-ground election operations effort. These teams will monitor state and local election processes to ensure officials follow the law, train thousands of poll watchers to observe all steps in the elections process, and engage in lawsuits that protect and promote election integrity.
The American people overwhelmingly support our efforts. Last month, an RNC poll found that 80% of voters support voter ID, while 77% reject “racism” as the driving principle behind election integrity efforts, and 87% are against ballot harvesting. Other polls have posted similar results: NPR found that 79% of Americans support voter ID laws, and Rasmussen reported that 60% of Democrats and 69% of Black voters support voter ID. These are practical, tangible steps to protect every American’s right to vote.
Examining how Democrats attack election integrity, laying out a blueprint for protecting our elections from the far left, and—most importantly—restoring faith in our form of government is the Republican Party’s top priority. We’re building a historic election integrity operation to do just that.
• Justin Riemer is the Republican National Committee’s chief counsel
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