Safeguarding Elections is Common Sense: Jonathan Williams on The Hugh Hewitt Show
“We have the American people on our side, and we have the truth on our side.”
In a move aimed at safeguarding the electoral process, ALEC launched a new Process and Procedures task force to establish clear rules of engagement between government and its citizens.
Appearing on The Hugh Hewitt Show, ALEC President and Chief Economist Jonathan Williams highlighted the focus on common-sense reforms across the states that restore trust in election procedures.
“It’s a really exciting day here at ALEC,” said Wiliams. “Just last Friday, our board of directors authorized the creation of this new task force to really look at the protections at the heart of our constitutional republic.”
The task force will focus on what Williams called “common sense” reforms, including voter ID laws, ballot handling procedures, and the prevention of non-citizen voting. He argued that these ideas have widespread support among the public.
“This is a common-sense American belief with 80 or 90% of support,” Williams said. “You have to kind of scratch your head once in a while and wonder, who are those 10% of Americans that don’t believe in citizen-only voting?”
Citing recent polling data, Hewitt emphasized the popularity of key reform measures.
“73% of registered voters believe mail-in ballots should arrive by Election Day,” Hewitt noted. “75% support requiring photo ID to vote, and 84% want states to routinely remove deceased, relocated, or non-citizens from the voter rolls.”
The concerns, Hewitt says, are not abstract.
“After I left California, I got votes delivered to my old house for at least two cycles,” he said.
“This should not be a partisan issue,” Williams responded. “This should be an issue of not who wins, but how we go about choosing that so Americans across the board can have real confidence again in the integrity of the election process.”
Williams also criticized the growing use of ranked-choice voting in municipalities like New York City, where final vote counts can take weeks.
“One of the things ALEC has been working on for a while is raising awareness around the problems with things like ranked choice voting,” Williams said. “Why does it take some of these cities a couple of months to figure out who actually won?”
Florida, according to Williams, offers a better model.
“They learned their lesson in Florida,” he said, referencing the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. “States like Florida have been leading the way on election integrity and better processes.”
Beyond elections for public office, Williams also discussed the ALEC model policy on school board election dates.
“This is pretty common sense—that we ought to have elections be on Election Day, right?” Williams said. “High-profile school board races or bond elections should be decided by a large number of people, not a very small number of people that are turned out, let’s say, by the teachers’ unions.”
“Having a consensus and high-turnout election process is critical, especially for issues that affect families and taxpayers so directly,” Williams said.
Asked whether ALEC expects political blowback, Williams responded with resolve.
“I’m sure we will from the usual haters out there, but that’s okay,” he said. “We have the American people on our side, and we have the truth on our side.”
While federalism means each of the 50 states can chart its own course, Williams hinted that ALEC may soon develop election integrity rankings to measure progress.
“Stay tuned,” Williams said. “Maybe Ohio will fare better than in Rich States, Poor States versus Michigan.”
As for ranked-choice voting: “It’s a horrible idea,” Williams said flatly. “It doesn’t work in practice because you have no idea who wins for the longest time… If elections aren’t confusing enough for some Americans, I think this makes it even more so.”