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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: 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 Mark Walker 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.
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. 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 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 is Georgia and the state with the lowest election integrity is Hawaii. Florida, it’s a good news yet bad news kind of story. The good news is we now rank 4th highest in election integrity. The bad news is that 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 the accuracy of voter rolls and absentee ballot procedures. Where our law is currently lacking is with regard to citizenship verification and election litigation procedures.
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