Election Integrity Policy Proposals (for North Carolina):

Reprinted by permission from the Heritage Foundation.

Require all voters to present photographic identification, issued by the federal, state, or local government, when they vote at their polling place and to send copies of such identification or their driver’s license number when submitting an absentee ballot. Any individual who does not have identification should be entitled to receive it free from state authorities. Both academic studies and election results show that identification requirements do not depress the turnout of voters, including minority voters. The vast majority of voters of all parties, races, and ethnic backgrounds support such a requirement, which increases public confidence in the integrity of elections.

Require all individuals who register to vote to provide documentation establishing that they are U.S. citizens. States have an interest in preventing dilution of the votes of their citizens at the state level and must maintain citizen-only voting rolls for federal elections. When a state issues a driver’s license to a noncitizen who is in the country legally or illegally, the license should indicate on its face that the holder is not a U.S. citizen.

Require state and local election officials to verify the accuracy of new voter registration information against other available state and federal databases. Section 303 of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2001 requires states to coordinate their voter registration lists with “other agency databases” and to “verify the accuracy of the information provided on applications for voter registration.” Some election officials are not complying with this law and not verifying new voter registration information against other available databases, such as Department of Motor Vehicles driver’s license records and Social Security Administration records. Legislators should implement this requirement as a state law to ensure that their state election officials will follow this commonsense requirement.

Require individuals who register by mail to vote in person the first time they vote. Section 6 of the National Voter Registration Act allows states to implement such a requirement, although it cannot apply to any voter entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act or the Voting Accessibility of the Elderly and Handicapped Act.

Require all individuals who register to vote by mail-in forms, whether mailed back to election officials or hand-delivered by the individual or third-party organizations, to comply with the applicable HAVA provision. HAVA requires persons who register to vote by mail and who have not previously voted in a federal election to provide a copy of certain identification documents when they register or the first time they vote, but some states have interpreted this to apply only to voter registration forms received through the mail and not to such forms when they are delivered through other means.

Require all third-party organizations that conduct voter registration drives to write the name of their organization, as well as that of the volunteer or employee handling each registration, on the voter registration form and that all completed forms be returned to election officials within 10 days of the date on which the forms are signed by the person registering. This would allow election officials to identify which organization and individual handled voter registration forms that are found to be incomplete or fraudulent and to ensure that completed registration forms are provided to election officials on a timely basis so that they can be properly processed before the state’s pre-election registration deadline.

Require all state courts to notify election officials when individuals whose names are drawn from the registration rolls are excused from jury duty because they are not U.S. citizens or no longer live in the jurisdiction. This would allow local election officials to remove ineligible voters and refer them for possible prosecution. Running data comparisons between voter registration addresses and property tax rolls is also recommended to detect individuals who are registering illegally at commercial addresses or vacant lots.

Require the state to enter into agreements with other states, such as the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, to compare voter registration lists to find people who are registered in more than one state. Because there is no national voter registration list, it is relatively easy for individuals to register in more than one state without detection. Such agreements are critical to detecting and deterring double registration and possible double voting.

Reject any effort to get rid of the Electoral College. Any state compact to manipulate or alter the Electoral College requires congressional assent. Such a compact should not be approved, and any constitutional amendment to scrap the Electoral College should be rejected.