Election integrity is essential to democratic governance. In recent years fraud allegations, lawsuits, and elections rules changes have cast doubt on the integrity of our elections. Thankfully, groups like Public Interest Legal Foundation and the Foundation for Government Accountability are working hard to ensure elections are administered fairly.
In this episode of Giving Ventures, Peter checks in with J. Christian Adams of PILF and Madeline Malisa of FGA for a post-election breakdown. Together, Christian and Madeline address issues like mandatory voter identification, ranked-choice voting, and the importance of holding elections for one day only rather than letting ballots trickle in for weeks after Election Day.
Christian Adams is president and general counsel for Public Interest Legal Foundation. He also serves as commissioner of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity and previously served in the Voting Section at the United States Department of Justice.
Madeline Malisa is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability, where she is a policy and legal expert on election and initiative integrity. Prior to joining FGA, she served as chief counsel to Governor Paul LePage in the State of Maine.
Recent Wins for Election Integrity
The 2020 election generated much controversy with changes to rules for mail-in ballots, private funding for election administration, allegations of systematic fraud, and post-election lawsuits. Many election integrity groups were concerned 2024 would see a repeat of these controversies.
“Folks thought that left-wing groups would be attempting to change election laws,” Christian notes. But thankfully rule of law advocates didn’t have to “play defense” and instead went to court to enforce election laws this year. Madeline pointed to another victory that’s come about in recent years: bans in 28 states on private funding for administration of elections, such as grants from billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg.
Christian and Madeline also see the defeat of ranked-choice voting ballot initiatives last month as a win for election integrity. Ranked choice, while popular with many libertarians, introduces complexity into voting that Christian likens to literacy tests. It also delays ballot counting: “Results can take days, weeks, even months to come in,” Madeline says.
Issues in the States
Still, there’s much work to be done shoring up election processes in the states. While some, like Florida, have taken action to better secure their elections, states including Texas and California are in desperate need of election reforms.
In Texas, Christian warns, “ballots are not secret.” Commendable efforts to make Texas elections more easily audited have had the unintended consequence of compromising voter privacy. Because Texas makes images of ballots available to the public, in some circumstances a ballot can be tied to an individual by process of elimination.
Meanwhile, California has received waivers for years on its obligation to establish a state-wide voter registration that would prevent individuals from registering and casting multiple ballots in the state. California and other states have also adopted the practice of allowing mail-in ballots to roll in and be counted for weeks after Election Day—a practice the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled to be a violation of federal law in Mississippi.
Guidance for Philanthropists
While Public Interest Legal Foundation and the Foundation for Government Accountability, among other groups, do good work in this area, not all election integrity work gets results. “Right now, a lot of the cases that are getting filed and funded are losing, and losing in embarrassing ways,” Christian says.
As a donor, distinguishing the groups that make a difference from those that capitalize on anger and fear is key, and past results are the best metric of success. Christian points out that philanthropists funding election integrity lawsuits can help to keep groups accountable by ensuring they support organizations that bring forward serious cases that can move the needle.
