Ohio voters are confident that national election results will be counted accurately, poll finds

Most Ohio voters are confident that statewide votes will be counted correctly for the upcoming November election. But almost everyone is confident about how Ohio’s election will play out, according to a new study funded by a new election-focused group with bipartisan leadership.

The statewide survey, commissioned by the Democracy Defense Project, also found broad support for several existing features of Ohio’s elections – such as nonpartisan, local government, secured, tamper-proof voting machines and ballots, online tracking of mail-in ballots and preloading completed mail-in ballots for a faster result to ensure.

But in questions to voters, the guidelines were described as proposals that would increase safety, rather than a claim that they are already in effect, which they are.

Robert Blizzard, a Republican pollster who conducted the poll, said he thinks Ohio’s election system is viewed relatively favorably, in part because voters are more likely to trust things that are closer to home. But he also said that’s because Ohio voting hasn’t been the subject of national controversy in recent presidential elections.

“I think Ohioans are a little more proud and confident in how their elections are being run and counted,” Blizzard said.

What is the Democracy Defense Project?

The Democracy Defense Project is a multistate initiative aimed at increasing voter confidence in elections. She has bipartisan leadership at the state level, serving in five top presidential swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — as well as New Hampshire and Ohio, which have a hotly contested U.S. Senate race this year.

In Ohio, the group’s leaders are Ken Blackwell, a former Republican secretary of state and political ally of former President Donald Trump, and Zach Space, a former Democratic congressman from Tuscarawas County. The group, which has not disclosed its financial backers, hired Blizzard to survey potential voters in Ohio from Sept. 18 to 21 to ask them how they view the security of the upcoming election. 600 likely voters who used cell phones, landlines and text messages were surveyed.

Democrats and Republicans view the integrity of the upcoming election differently

Not surprisingly, the poll found a sharp divide between the parties. Republican voters have been swayed by Trump’s repeated false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, claims that have been rejected by Trump’s Justice and Homeland Security departments and dozens of local and federal courts. Some Republicans have also raised more mundane voting concerns about the 2020 election, such as the board’s move to mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The poll found that 58 percent of Republicans were “not at all” confident that the national election count would be accurate, compared with 38 percent of independent voters and 5 percent of Democrats. Republicans were also much more likely to describe poll workers as “more political than you think.”

What Ohio voters say are their biggest election concerns

Voters were asked to rank their most important concerns. The Republicans rated the demand that people who immigrated to the USA illegally be allowed to vote most highly. This helps shed light on why Republicans in Ohio have pursued laws aimed at weeding out undocumented immigrants, even though documented voter fraud is exceptionally rare. For independents, the biggest concern was that media organizations were selectively promoting some news stories and exaggerating others. And for Democrats, it was election fraud spread through realistic, AI-generated videos and photos.

But there were areas where there was agreement. The same concern about the media ranked second among Republicans and third among Democrats. And the AI ​​issue ranked fifth among Republicans and second among independents. Blizzard told him this shows there is “more consensus than you think” about election integrity, giving party leaders conflicting narratives about the spread of voter fraud.

The poll also found cross-party paranoia, broadly directed at the other side, although not always:

• 95 percent of Trump voters described themselves as “extremely concerned” about voting irregularities that would impact the election, but so did 41 percent of Harris voters. About 90% of both Trump and Harris voters said they were concerned about the other side engaging in “improper voting activities” that could affect the election, while nearly 60% of independent voters said they were concerned about how this was the case with both major presidential campaigns.
• 23% of Republicans – a significant minority – said they were concerned about irregularities in Trump’s campaign, while 11% of Democrats said the same about Harris’ campaign.

Read the full survey here.