Q&A – How Does Florida Rank for Election Integrity in 2022? 

Q&A – How Does Florida Rank for Election Integrity in 2022? 

Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.  

Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com 

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Today’s entry: I saw where the case to try to undo Florida’s new election law is going to court. You’ve talked about how states and the country rank for election integrity before. What I’d like to know is how Florida ranks on election integrity with the new law.  

Bottom Line: Yeah, so yesterday the legal challenge to Florida’s newly enacted voter integrity law had its first day in court. After last year’s cries of Florida’s new election law being “Jim Crow 2.0” and related absurdities, numerous political interest groups which brought the challenge are alleging Florida’s new law discriminates against minorities, disabled persons and older voters. The case is being heard by a federal judge you’ve likely heard the name of before, as he’s previously ruled on numerous election related challenges in Florida in recent years. Obama-appointee Mark Walker is hearing the case in what’s likely to be an appealed decision regardless of how he rules on the law. Before discussing how Florida now ranks in election integrity after the passing of the new law, I’ll start with a quick reset with what actually changed with the new law.  

• Private money is banned from use in conducting elections 
• Requests for vote-by-mail ballots must occur each election cycle with ID required for each request 
• Increases the window of time for Supervisors of Elections to begin processing vote-by-mail ballots by up to 40 days before Election Day 
• Disallows the printing of a political party on the outside of a vote-by-mail ballot 
• 3rd parties outside of immediate family or caregivers aren’t allowed to collect voter ballots 
• Prohibits the use of drop boxes for vote-by-mail ballots which aren’t supervised by a person 
• Drop boxes must be in locations that are centrally located within a jurisdiction 
• Each political party will have the ability to observe signature matches certified by canvassing boards 
• The no influence zones outside of polling places extend to 150 feet 

Of course, Florida was far from the only state to advance election integrity measures last year. A total of 14 states passed some form of reform – though Florida’s new measures were among the most extensive in the country. The rankings you’ve heard me reference previously were from Harvard’s Electoral Integrity Project. Each presidential election cycle Harvard’s project comprehensively evaluates elections – as well as those of countries around the world. Notably, electoral integrity in the United States is the 2nd worst in the developed world according to Harvard’s findings. The Project also ranks states individually. In their summary from the 2020 election cycle Florida graded out with an integrity score of 75, which was only good for 33rd nationally. This underscored the need for additional reforms in Florida. Opponents of the new law have pointed to how smooth the 2020 election was in Florida as a reason as to why they believe reforms aren’t needed. As the Electoral Integrity Project evidenced, there’s a difference between a smooth tabulation of votes and the opportunity for integrity issues with the votes being cast. As for where Florida now ranks with the new law... 

In re-ranking states based on the newly enacted laws, the Heritage Foundation has created their own Election Integrity Scorecard for states. The picture isn’t the prettiest. The highest ranked state according to the Heritage Foundation is Georgia, on back of their newly passed law, but with a score of just an 83. The state with the lowest election integrity is Hawaii which scores a remarkably low 26 in election integrity. As for Florida, it’s a good news – bad news kind of story. The good news, we now rank 4th highest in election integrity. The bad news, our score is just 78. Florida gets perfect scores for access of Election Observers, not having automatic or same day voter registration and for banning private money in conducting elections. We have a nearly perfect score for our voter ID law and for ballot harvesting restrictions. Florida’s slightly better than average in accuracy of voter rolls and absentee ballot procedures. Where our law is currently lacking is with regard to citizenship verification and election litigation procedures.  

Here’s the irony of the lawsuit challenging Florida’s election law. Even with the improvements made, there’s still much that could be done to enhance election integrity in Florida. Instead, the interest groups suing are seeking to undo the progress that’s been made which led from Florida advancing from 33rd in election integrity to 4th. I expect Florida’s law will survive legal challenges when the dust settles but what this exercise shows is that not only should Florida’s law be upheld, but the state should still be working towards additional reforms to enhance election integrity.