Three steps Idaho can take to bolster election integrity and trust in voting process | Opinion
Despite fears of false and misleading election information resulting in more election worker threats and doubt about the 2022 elections, Idaho appears to have emerged from the midterms relatively unscathed.
Idaho election officials and their partners showed a united front to deter threats to election infrastructure. The state audited and certified its results with little fuss. Even a number of candidates who made election denialism a central tenet of their campaigns lost, including multiple secretary of state candidates who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and spread false claims in 2022.
However, a celebration following these midterms would be premature. Election deniers continue to pester Idaho election officials with requests premised on disproven claims that Idaho’s elections are vulnerable to widespread fraud.
The information space is growing increasingly complicated, and nearly half of the Idaho legislature was replaced following November’s election. With the next session of the Idaho Legislature fast approaching, here are three ways Idahoans can bolster the integrity of their elections to ensure 2024 goes just as well, if not better, than 2022.
First, Idaho should build on the success of its 2022 post-election audits and seek to conduct even more robust audits for future elections.
In an audit of more than 19,000 ballots chosen at random from precincts in eight counties following the November 2022 general election, Idaho officials identified only six variations. Post-election audits are key to securing elections against autocratic interference because they can confirm whether votes are recorded and tallied accurately while also providing voters with confidence that a tabulation error or malicious attack did not change the outcome. The closer Idaho gets to reviewing statistically significant numbers of ballots following each election, the harder it should become for detractors to question the validity of any result.
Second, Idaho should readopt pre-processing of mail ballots, which allows local officials to open and scan these ballots several days prior to election day.
As the Governor’s Cybersecurity Task Force Report noted earlier, when Idaho used this process during its record-setting 2020 general election, its election officials were able to process election results in a timely, transparent and effective manner. This not only quenches the public’s thirst for faster election results, it can also make it harder for malicious actors to discredit the electoral process.
As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI noted shortly before the 2020 presidential election, “Foreign actors and cybercriminals could exploit the time required to certify and announce elections’ results by disseminating disinformation that includes reports of voter suppression, cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure, voter or ballot fraud, and other problems intended to convince the public of the elections’ illegitimacy.”
More recently, others like Seth Bluestein, Republican city commissioner for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Board of Elections, have noted that this kind of disinformation can also “open up a window for threats to election officials.”
Third, Idaho legislators should make it easier for Idaho counties to offer in-person early voting to their voters.
When I previously served as Ada County’s election director, I heard from other Idaho election officials that adopting early voting was too onerous, even if might be helpful. Idaho then and now requires that any counties that adopt early voting use it for a minimum of two weeks, potentially putting it out of reach for smaller jurisdictions with tighter budgets. With adequate resources and notice, early voting often makes elections more accessible, easier to administer, and more secure. Other states like Kentucky use early voting to great effect without requiring that it be offered for such lengthy periods. Idaho would be wise to consider a similar tack.
Perhaps due in part to Idahoans’ increasing preference for early and mail voting, Idaho’s election officials did a commendable job administering its 2022 midterms. Taking some of the above actions could go a long way toward building on this success and ensuring a repeat performance for future elections.
This story was originally published January 1, 2023 at 4:00 AM.