The seven states most likely to decide the presidential race Nov. 5 vary in election security, with Georgia and Nevada showing the starkest contrast.
Georgia has the highest score of any swing state on The Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard, tied for the second-highest score in the nation.
Nevada ranks 50th in the nation, beating only Hawaii. (Because of the District of Columbia, 51 jurisdictions are scored.)
In most battleground states, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are separated by less than 2% in the presidential race, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages.
“Georgia has vastly improved on elections since 2020, while Nevada has made matters worse,” Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow and manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
“These are two examples of everything a state should do and everything a state shouldn’t do,” von Spakovsky added.
The other battleground states rank somewhere in between.
Wisconsin and North Carolina rank in the top 20 best states for election security. Other key states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, tie for the rank of 24—barely making it into the top half. Michigan falls in the bottom 25.
States are scored on factors such as voter ID laws, accuracy of voter registration rolls, restrictions on the practice of ballot harvesting, and verification of U.S. citizenship.
Here’s a look at where the seven battleground states stand.
Arizona
Arizona has a score of 62 and ranks 24. Arizona has a low score for its voter ID law, with 7 out of 20. But does well with 19 out of 28 points for accuracy of voter registration lists.
Arizona also has a maximum of four points for restrictions on ballot harvesting, also known as vote trafficking. It’s the practice in which political operatives collect large amounts of absentee ballots from voters or election offices.
The state, which shares a border with Mexico, gets 3 out of 4 points for citizenship verification.
Trump currently holds a 1.8% lead over Harris in Arizona in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Trump won the state against Hillary Clinton in 2016, but lost it to Joe Biden in 2020.
Georgia
Georgia has a score of 83 overall and ties with Florida and Alabama for second place in the ranking.
The top-ranked state is Tennessee.
For its part, Georgia ranks 19 out of 20 for enforcing voter ID. It scores 22 out of 28 for accuracy of voter registration rolls.
Georgia gets 3 out of 4 points for restrictions on ballot harvesting and 17 out of 21 points for management of absentee ballots.
Georgia gets the maximum score for verification of citizenship, vote-counting practices, access by election observers, restrictions on same-day voter registration, and restrictions on private funding of elections.
However, the state gets a zero for having no restrictions on automatic voter registration.
Trump has his strongest polling lead in Georgia, with an average of 2.5% over Harris, according to RealClearPolitics. Trump carried the state in 2016, but fell short in 2020.
Michigan
Michigan ranks 27 with a score of 57 on Heritage’s Election Integrity Scorecard.
Michigan does well enough on both voter ID enforcement, with 13 out of 20, and on keeping accurate voter rolls, with 17 of 28.
It ranks 14 out of 21 on management of absentee voting. But the state has no verification of U.S. citizenship, allows for Election Day voter registration, and has no restrictions on private funding of election administration, scoring zero on each front.
Michigan does manage 3 out of 4 points for restricting ballot harvesting.
Trump has a 1.2% lead in Michigan over Harris, according to RealClearPolitics. Trump won the state in 2016, but lost it in 2020.
Nevada
Nevada, coming in second to last, has a score of 28 out of 100.
The Silver State does poorly in nearly every category, with just 2 points out of 20 for voter ID.
Nevada does better on accuracy of voter registration lists, with 15 points out of a maximum of 28. But that’s generally the high point, as the state earns a score of zero on ballot harvesting.
It scores zero in multiple other categories such as private funding of local election offices, allowing Election Day voter registration, and promoting automatic voter registration.
Trump has a 0.7% lead over Harris in Nevada, according to RealClearPolitics. Trump has never won in Nevada.
North Carolina
North Carolina comes in 18th in the national election integrity ranking, with 70 points.
North Carolina is effectively tied, with Trump holding a 0.5% lead over Harris in the RealClearPolitics average. But Trump has history on his side, having carried the state twice before.
The state scores 17 out of 20 for voter ID, and 18 out of 28 for accuracy of voter rolls.
The Tar Heel State also has a maximum score for restrictions on ballot harvesting. Notably, a 2018 U.S. House race was overturned by the North Carolina State Board of Elections after a Republican candidate won after a ballot harvesting scandal.
North Carolina also gets a maximum score for providing access for election observers, its vote-counting practices, and restrictions on same-day voter registration.
However, the state gets zero points for restrictions on private funding for election offices as well as for election litigation practices and verification of U.S. citizenship.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has an overall score of 62, but scores just 10 out of a maximum 20 for voter ID.
The Keystone State scores a maximum four points for restricting ballot harvesting, and does reasonably well on accuracy of voter rolls with a score of 18 out of 28.
The state manages to score 13 out of 21 points for absentee ballot management.
In Pennsylvania, Trump holds an average 0.8% lead over Harris, according to RealClearPolitics. Trump won the state in 2016, but lost it in 2020.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is tied with Ohio for spot 11 in the ranking; Ohio itself was formally a swing state. Wisconsin has 76 points.
The Badger State has a maximum score for its voter ID law, accuracy of voter rolls, ballot harvesting restrictions, access by election observers, and restrictions on private money funding election offices.
However, Wisconsin gets a zero for having no restrictions on Election Day voter registration.
Wisconsin is another dead-heat state in the RealClearPolitics polling average, but Trump has a nominal 0.4% edge over Harris. Trump won the state in 2016, but lost it in 2020.