Most Americans support election integrity policies that Democrats oppose in court

States across the country are enacting election integrity reforms that most Americans appear to support, while Democrat and liberal-leaning groups continue to mount legal challenges to such initiatives.

Since the 2020 presidential election, in which concerns were raised about voter and election fraud, former President Donald Trump and other conservatives have called for stronger laws to ensure the security of elections.

Some of the reforms include voter ID, prohibiting so-called "ballot harvesting" and ensuring that non-citizens cannot vote in elections.

Among the concerns during the 2020 presidential election cycle was that the expansion of dropbox and mail-in balloting, in part the the result of the pandemic, was susceptible to voting fraud.

So-called "ballot harvesting" is the practice in which a third-party transmits a voter's ballot, which is legal in some states. 

According to a recent poll by the Honest Elections Project, 88% of registered voters support photo ID requirements for voting.

Only 9% say such requirements should be eliminated because some voters may lack an ID. A total of 80% of respondents preferred that free IDs be offered to voters who do not have one, which states with voter ID requirements already do.

As for ballot harvesting, 74% of voters think it should be illegal, and 76% believe that voting in person is better than by mail.

However, Republicans including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, appear to be taking up idea, amid the argument the GOP must catch up with the Democrat Party, which is using the practice effectively to win elections.  

U.S. cities such as New York City and Washington, D.C., allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. According to the poll, 89% of voters believe only Americans should vote in elections. The 89% of voters includes 78% of Hispanic voters, 80% of black voters, and 82% of Democrats.

The poll was conducted July 13-16 of 1,600 registered voters and has a 2.45% margin of error.

“Despite what the far left and many in the mainstream media would have you believe, election integrity measures continue to boast wide support among the American public," Jason Snead, executive director of the conservative-leaning Honest Election group, said Monday. "Election integrity measures that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat are just common sense."

The majority of states have enacted legislation such as voter ID and prohibiting ballot harvesting.

A total of 33 states that have significant restrictions on the practice, according to an analysis by the Movement Advancement Project. Of them, five allow only the voter to return their mail-in ballot. Those states are Alabama, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. 

A total of 17 states and Washington, D.C., have little or no restrictions.

For voter ID, states are divided up into four separate categories, according to a Movement Advancement Project analysis.

Eleven states require photo ID to vote and have additional steps that are required if the voter doesn’t have an ID. Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Four states require non-photo ID and have additional steps that are required if the voter doesn’t have an ID. Those states include Arizona, Iowa, North Dakota, and Utah.

Thirteen states request photo ID but do not have additional steps that a voter has to go through if they don’t have the ID. The states in this category are Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas.

A total of 22 states and Washington, D.C., don’t request ID or request non-photo ID  without having additional steps for a voter to complete if they don’t have the ID. These states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Nebraska enacted a law in June that will go into effect for the 2024 presidential primary election that requires photo ID to vote in person.

As states pass election integrity laws, Democratic election law firms such as Elias Law Group are challenging them in court.

After Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed his state’s voter ID bill into law this January, the firm sued state officials, arguing the new law would “severely restrict Ohioans’ access to the polls.”

Mississippi enacted a law in May that prohibited ballot harvesting, to which the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center each brought a legal challenge.

States have also restricted ballot drop boxes since the 2020 presidential election, following accusations of ballot harvesting.

In Wisconsin, after the state Supreme Court ruled the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s authorization of ballot drop boxes in the 2020 presidential election was illegal, Elias Law Group brought a lawsuit over the ruling and the state’s requirements for absentee voting.