Don’t nationalize elections—secure them in the states
When I was in high school, I remember staying up late and watching the Woody Jenkins for U.S. Senate campaign in Louisiana slowly wither away with a late and seemingly improbable surge by Mary Landrieu. I was fascinated by the entire drama playing out live on C-SPAN and a local New Orleans news station, which I could watch living in South Mississippi. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of chatter about voting irregularities in New Orleans. Finally, a long U.S. Senate investigation confirmed irregularities but not enough to warrant a new election. If I’m remembering correctly, the Jenkins campaign was also scrutinized, not just Landrieu. Not to pick on Louisiana too much, I love it there, but if you dig deep enough in a political campaign it’s unlikely too many come out looking like saints. While it’s a little dated now, I can’t think of a book about political campaigns more surreal and hilarious than “The Last Hayride” by John Maginnis.
I bring up the fraud anecdote because much is being made of President Trump’s call for the federal government to play a greater role to secure election integrity. Trust in elections are essential to a free society and the truth is that we are swimming in deeper waters on this topic compared to the 1990s, when the Jenkins and Landrieu election occurred. Many are pushing back against the president with arguments about the Constitution and the traditional role of states in managing their elections. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is one notable example on the right. Many of those arguments are good but I like the pivot to putting some of the onus on states as an opportunity to clean up their elections. Here is a good line from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a February 2 news release:
I urge lawmakers to focus on strengthening state administration of elections rather than rehashing the same outdated claims or worse – moving to federalize a core function of state government.
American Habits has already interviewed three quality secretaries of state: Michael Watson in Mississippi, Wes Allen in Alabama, and Michael Adams in Kentucky. They all delve into the topic of election security.
In Georgia, Raffensperger also calls for congressional action where it makes sense to secure elections, while pushing back on a one-size-fits-all approach that would swallow up state authority and independence. Congress can modernize the federal framework by expanding access to citizenship verification tools, improving the data states use to maintain clean voter rolls, and clarifying baseline rules for federal contests, without turning election administration into a Washington-run bureaucracy.
Working to improve integrity at the state level makes the most sense and nationalization trends could easily result in those forces that have less interest in securing election integrity being emboldened with even more power once they have solidified control of Washington.
The most important point is a simple one: the need to rebuild trust in elections will not come from pretending concerns do not exist, and it will not come from nationalizing the process. It comes from states taking responsibility and running elections that are secure, transparent, and worthy of public confidence. After all, those familiar with the American Civil Rights Movement know full well that a lot of state failures led to a greater involvement in elections by the national government.
—Ray Nothstine
— The Federalism Beat