Arizona is ground zero for questions on election integrity and reform. While the topic has caused a lot of division, a new study from the ASU Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy finds there is some common ground — even among Democrats and Republicans.
The center conducted a survey of over a thousand registered voters in the state asking their opinions on different election integrity and reform ideas. The major takeaway is 65% of Arizonans are confident in election outcomes. Respondents who did not vote in last year’s election had a higher overall confidence of 70%, but people who voted were more likely to be “very confident” in the outcome.
The areas with the most common ground centered around election officials. A majority in all parties agrees people who run elections, like county recorders and the Secretary of State, should be elected in a nonpartisan race. A massive 92% also believe election officials should take an oath of office that they will conduct elections in a nonpartisan manner. This is technically done as government employees do swear an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and the laws of Arizona, but it is not specific to elections.
There is also agreement on what election officials should not do. Most respondents thought officials should not oversee decisions that can impact their own elections with recounts given as an example. Raising money for other candidates and publicly endorsing other candidates were two other issues that a majority of voters agreed election officials should stay away from. Just under half also think they should not raise money for their political parties.
ASU professor and director of the Center Dr. Thom Reilly told ABC15 reforms around election officials would put the U.S. more in line with other Western democracies.
“We’re the only Western democracy in the world that actually elects (our election system) in a partisan manner.” Dr. Reilly said. “Every other democracy shields their administrators administrative and legally from partisan actors.”
The survey asked about reforms around the election process as well and many had majority support. The most popular reforms were public machine testing and tracking early ballots like packages. Arizona counties are legally required to test machines both before and after elections in a process referred to as “Logic and Accuracy.” Dr. Reilly said election administrators need to do more to communicate with the public about the existence of the testing procedures.
Smaller majorities split by party, in this case not supported by most Democrats, think there should be stricter ID requirements, more robust election audits, and accountable outside observers. One big surprise of the survey was a majority of all parties supported an open primary system where candidates of all parties ran in one election with the top two moving ahead to the general election. A slim majority also supported "Rank Choice Voting," but Republicans who voted in the last election were strongly opposed to the idea.
Two reforms did not receive majority support. The elimination of mail-in ballots and election results within 24 hours, which would require the elimination of drop boxes at voting centers, were supported by most Republicans.
Respondents had little trust that institutions would give them unbiased election information. Friends and family had the highest support followed by universities. Social media was, by far the lowest with only 6% of respondents saying they trusted it as an election information source.
