The Heritage Foundation has ranked the state of Tennessee number one in the nation on its election integrity scorecard.
Tennessee received a score of 84 out of 100, beating out Georgia’s 83 out of 100 for the top rating by one point.
The top five is rounded out by Alabama, Missouri, and South Carolina who received scores of 82, 80, and 79 respectively.
The five worst-ranked states in the nation on this scorecard are Hawaii, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Vermont.
The full list of state rankings and criteria can be found at the following link.
Separate categories are considered in the score and they include: Voter ID Implementation, Accuracy of Voter Registration Lists, Absentee Ballot Management, Vote Harvesting/Trafficking Restrictions, Access of Election Observers, Verification of Citizenship, Identification for Voter Assistance, Vote Counting Practices, Election Litigation Procedures, Restriction of Same-Day Registration, Restriction of Automatic Registration, and Restriction of Private Funding of Election Officials or Government Agencies.
Tennessee received 20 of 20 points for the state’s photo ID laws, a perfect score in that category.
The state received 25 out of 30 points in the Accuracy of Voter Registration Lists category. The scorecard notes that Tennessee is not a “member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which compares the statewide voter registration lists of state members.”
Additionally, Tennessee received a 16 of 21 score for absentee ballot management. The state has a signature comparison requirement in place but does not require that the ballot “needs to be notarized or witnessed (with identifying information such as name, address, telephone number, and signature).”
Tennessee “does not allow third-party strangers, other than immediate family or a caregiver, to pick up and deliver a voter’s absentee ballot” and received a perfect score in the Vote Harvesting/Trafficking Restrictions category.
The state does not score well in the Election Litigation Procedures category, as the Tennessee General Assembly does not have standing to sue in order to ensure compliance with election laws that it has passed and does not have approval over changes to election laws that come as a result of a court settlement, according to the scorecard.
State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) tweeted the following in response to Tennessee’s ranking, “This year we passed legislation requiring random auditing, $20 mill for new paper ballot machines & prohibited consent decrees by local or state election officials. TN now ranks number 1 in the nation for election integrity.”
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Election Day 2020” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
As a former Election Commissioner, I believe in our ratings. Tennessee does a very good job on election integrity. Counting paper ballots is a disaster…I’ve seen it too many times.
Both the U. K. and France use paper ballots in their national elections, and these two countries conduct an election, count the votes, report the vote totals, and declare the winner of the national election ALL IN THE SAME DAY! If they can do it, why can’t the U. S. do it too?
I would add one ‘wrinkle.’ I would use numbered, paper ballots, printed by one company on special paper (like our currency), which could not be duplicated by anyone else without being obviously and easily identified as fraudulent (of course, fraudulent ballots would not be counted). Thus, ALL legitimate ballots could be easily and readily accounted for. It would be more complicated than this, of course, but you ‘get’ the gist of what I am saying.
I go into a “booth” punch some buttons on an electronic device and must hope and pray that my votes are not manipulated within the electronic system. Give me a paper ballot and I will consider the possibility that Tennessee. has a shot at voting integrity.
Are you willing to wait a couple weeks to get the election results from a hand count? The longer it takes to count ballots the easier it is to commit voter fraud. This is not the solution you think it is.
Yes, they get stuffed in a drawer somewhere or thrown in the trash.
The ballot could be recorded electronically with the secured paper ballot available in case of need to verify results.
Really? Not if adequate oversight is provided. I am a software developer who has worked on electronic devices similar to voting machines. You should be scared to death to entrust your vote to such devices.
Looks like this ranking is worthless. Guess the Heritage Foundation doesn’t take into account voting fraud! The only thing going for TN in regards to machine fraud is there’s some 30 different machines used in the state. Hard for one vendor to drive machine fraud. Franklin has to switch out it’s Dominion machines due to machine error fraud on a local election in the last couple years.
Something does not add up here. If Tennessee is best in the nation on election integrity with a score of 84, why does Georgia score an 83? Georgia is ‘crooked as a barrel of snakes’ on election integrity. Even the most casual consumer of news now knows this. The Heritage Foundation used to be a reliable organization insofar as Conservatives were concerned. But I don’t take anything at face value without some skepticism now. This report defies common sense. Can anyone explain this?
It gives you confidence that Lockdown Lee will be reelected by the “voting machines”.