All of that is at stake in November, Ken Blackwell, The Family Research Council’s special advisor for Election Integrity, says.
Democrats are warning the coming election is about democracy, he observes, and they’re not off track. It’s just which version of democracy Americans will choose.
“What needs to be addressed is the real threat to citizenship in our country, and that’s tied to the porous borders that we have," Blackwell said on Washington Watch Thursday. "So our national sovereignty, and the integrity of citizenship, is really wrapped up in how various states, all of our states, deal with the election integrity issue."
Republican governors in Virginia and Ohio have made key moves to protect elections recently.
In Virginia, where Joe Biden won seven of 11 congressional districts and defeated Donald Trump by 10 points in 2020, Glenn Youngkin (pictured at left) signed an executive order mandating the user of paper ballots, updating voter rolls to remove noncitizens – and the deceased – and much more.
“The governor (Youngkin) has aggressively addressed an issue that must be addressed across the country. We have a decentralized system so states approach these problems differently,” Blackwell told show host Jody Hice.
It’s important to “press the envelope” on these issues, Blackwell said.
“You have to have people in elected positions for secretary of state and governor that are willing to say, ‘We’re going to the mat on these issues.’ That’s very important,” he said.
Blackwell served as secretary of state in Ohio from 1999-2007 and worked for Housing and Urban Development in the George H.W. Bush administration before that.
Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose last week announced that almost 500 noncitizens were being removed from its rolls.
The affected individuals were confirmed through Ohio’s bureau of motor vehicles.
“These individuals failed to respond to notices from the secretary of state’s office asking that they either confirm their citizenship status or cancel their registration,” LaRose’s office said in a statement.
Left says leave things alone
Trump claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020 are often dismissed in media coverage.
The Associated Press, no fan of conservatives and Republicans, reported last month that conservative groups pushing to clean up voter rolls are seen by some as “an effort to sow election distrust.”
Examples of reported voter fraud were scant but did occur. As many as could be found are listed in a database compiled by The Heritage Foundation.
The Republican National Committee in June announced a swing-state initiative aimed placing thousands of monitors inside polling places.
“In 2024 we’re going to beat the Democrats at their own game, and the RNC legal team will be working tirelessly to ensure that elections officials follow the rules in administering elections. We will aggressively take them to court if they don’t follow rules or try to change them at the last minute,” RNC Chief Counsel Charlie Spies said in a statement, adding that the “RNC legal is committed to making sure that victory can’t be rigged.”
When Youngkin won election in Virginia, in 2021, he was boosted with a Trump endorsement.
The aggressive moves Youngkin has made to ensure election integrity are not necessary in Ohio because of continued due diligence through the years, Blackwell said.
“Ohio didn’t have as deep a hole as Virginia had, and the reason for that is we’ve had two consecutive secretaries of state that have dealt with noncitizens voting and have also dealt with keeping foreign money out of our elections and changing the composition of our elections,” he said.
All voting centers in Ohio are staffed with trained poll workers and observers.
“It’s a very transparent system,” Blackwell said.
Because of that he predicts Trump will again win his state with a number too large to contest. Trump won Ohio by eight points in 2020. The Buckeye State carries 18 electoral votes.
“This is not going to be a nail-biting contest like it will be in Virginia because that will be a claw-back effort by the Trump team. When you start talking about Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, you’re talking about results that will probably be within the margin of litigation. That’s not to worry in Ohio,” Blackwell said.
Election integrity requires due diligence at all times
The key is to work on the election process continually and not just during election years, Blackwell said.
“All systems need to be stress-tested. We need early warning systems, and I think those are in place in Ohio. Ohio’s governor, secretary of state and both chambers of the legislature have been dealing with this issue, and I think things are under control,” he said.
