Exclusive — Ronna McDaniel: Numbers Don’t Lie. The American People Want Election Integrity

In order for our democratic process to work, Americans must have widespread faith and confidence that our elections are free, fair, and transparent. Voters exercising their most sacred constitutional right deserve to feel confident that their ballot is secure. That’s why the Republican National Committee (RNC) is engaged in a large-scale effort to protect our elections by making it easier to vote and harder to cheat nationwide. Recent polling the RNC conducted underscores that Americans largely agree with the Republican approach to rebuilding faith in our elections.

This new nationwide poll was conducted with a thoroughly bipartisan sample of voters: respondents identified as 31% Democrats, 36% Independents, and 29% Republicans. The results paint a clear picture that should give Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Democrats pause as they push unpopular federal election power grabs. For example, 80% of voters say that voter ID is a crucial security measure. This number not only tracks with other polls — NPR recently found 79% of respondents favor requiring voter ID — but should help close the book on the debate surrounding this issue. Americans believe asking for identification before voting is an uncontroversial, common-sense safeguard to the voting process.

This same poll found that a majority of voters disagree with the claim that voter ID is “racist,” sharply undermining Democrat lies that describe voter ID requirements as “Jim Crow 2.0.” In fact, 77% of all voters reject “racism” as the driving principle behind voting integrity laws. Predictably, Democrats are now changing their tune: key Democrat figures like Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams, and Jim Clyburn are broadcasting their amenability to voter ID laws. It’s almost as if their initial arguments were driven by cynical, false outrage, and not a truthful acknowledgment of this policy’s clear necessity. Republicans, on the other hand, have consistently pushed voter ID requirements in our efforts to promote election integrity at the state and national level. We base our policies on common-sense and principle, not whichever way the media wind is blowing.

This polling also backs up ongoing Republican election integrity efforts on other specific policies like ballot trafficking. The RNC has long argued that ballot trafficking — the controversial practice of paid political operatives collecting and harvesting ballots directly from voters — opens the window for partisan interference into your ballot’s chain of custody. 87% of voters polled agree. Keeping political operatives out of the voting process benefits Republicans and Democrats alike. The Supreme Court agreed when it upheld Arizona’s ban on ballot trafficking last week in the landmark Brnovich vs. Democratic National Committee 6-3 ruling. That legal victory, which the RNC worked hard to help secure, validated national sentiment against ballot trafficking — as well as Republican efforts to outlaw the practice.

When asked, 78% of respondents said they support a proposed voting plan with five key principles: requiring voter ID, verifying voters’ signatures, controlling the ballot chain-of-custody, bipartisan poll observation, and cleaning up voter rolls. A majority of voters also believe that special voting measures enacted due to COVID-19 should be removed now that most adults are vaccinated. This is exactly what the RNC has been fighting for. We are engaged in a long-term effort to protect election integrity through these very same common-sense safeguards. Our legal team is currently involved in 19 lawsuits, fighting Democrat attempts to undermine election integrity nationwide. We are also building out a historic election integrity operation that will put trained staffers and volunteers on the ground to monitor election activities for any sign of partisan interference.

Republicans are invested in the fight for election integrity because Americans deserve to have confidence in the process and have their ballots protected. Nothing is more important than the sanctity of our election process. Making it easier to vote and harder to cheat benefits all Americans regardless of political affiliation — and regardless of political affiliation, Americans support our election integrity policy agenda. The numbers don’t lie.