Hans von Spakovsky

About Hans von Spakovsky

Hans von Spakovsky is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on elections and election reform. He is manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow in Heritage’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. He is the co-author with John Fund of the book “Who’s Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk” (Encounter Books, 2012). Before joining Heritage in 2008, Mr. von Spakovsky served two years as a member of the Federal Election Commission, the authority charged with enforcing campaign finance laws for congressional and presidential elections, including public funding. He has served on the Board of Advisors of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and on the Fulton County (Ga.) Board of Registrations and Elections. He is a former vice chairman of the Fairfax County (Va.) Electoral Board and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. A 1984 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, Mr. von Spakovsky received his B.S. degree in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

von Spakovsky: Non-citizens voting in California: Judge says no, even in left-wing state

Sometimes, common sense can prevail – even in far-out California. Last week, California Superior Court Judge Richard B. Ulmer Jr. ruled that only U.S. citizens have the right to vote. In this, he echoed an earlier ruling by the New York Supreme Court.

The Latest Federal Takeover of Elections Violates Federal Law

Democrats haven’t stopped trying to take over elections, they just have new tactics to do so under voters’ noses.Employees throughout the federal government who are carrying out President Joe Biden’s executive order directing them to get involved in state elections are likely all violating the Anti-Deficiency Act, besides interfering in the election process and using federal resources in what seems to be a get-out-the-vote operation for the party in power in the White House.

Hans von Spakovsky: Latest Election Fraud Cases Underscore Importance of Election Integrity

With the latest cases of impersonation, registration fraud, absentee ballot fraud, bribery, and illegal vote trafficking added to The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database, the database now contains 1,365 proven instances of election fraud. These cases demonstrate the wide variety of ways in which bad actors set out to submit fraudulent ballots or steal elections.The database is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all election fraud in the states. Rather, it presents a sampling of recent, proven instances of election fraud from across the country that is intended to highlight the many ways in which fraud has been committed.

Hans von Spakovsky: Ensuring That Only US Citizens Vote

The latest politically motivated lawsuit—filed against Arizona by the Biden Justice Department over the state’s new law attempting to verify the citizenship of registered voters—demonstrates the importance of a bill just introduced by Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., HR 8223, that would stop that lawsuit in its tracks.

Hans von Spakovsky: Election audits should be required in every state after every election

Financial audits are standard practice in the business world. Election audits also should be standard practice in every state after every election. Audits would determine whether the election was administered honestly, fairly, accurately and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Yet audits of election agencies, procedures and systems are almost nonexistent in America. The very concept of comprehensive election audits has been criticized and opposed by some election officials and even by the current U.S. Department of Justice.

Hans von Spakovsky: This Supreme Court Ruling Will Prove Vital to Defending Voter ID

The Supreme Court’s important ruling last week on voter ID in North Carolina has been overlooked in the fervor over the high court’s spot-on decisions upholding the Second Amendment and religious freedom and overruling Roe v. Wade. But the court’s procedural decision Thursday in Berger v. NAACP will help prevent state officials from sabotaging the defense of state election laws and other measures being attacked by their political allies and friends.

Von Spakovsky: The Fraud that Dare Not Speak its Name

Dinesh D’Souza’s new documentary, 2,000 Mules, raises serious questions about possible skullduggery in the 2020 election, involving absentee ballots across multiple states. But neither the liberal media, nor election officials, nor law enforcement seem to have much interest in investigating that potential wrongdoing. The reaction has largely boiled down to “nothing to see here!” or else to so-called “fact checks” that criticize the technology used to analyze the problems the film documents, rather than actually use the information D’Souza presents to investigate the credibility of the claims being made.

Von Spakovsky: Latest Cases of Election Fraud Underline Need for Vigilance and Action

Election integrity continues to be an important issue to citizens across the country, regardless of their political affiliation. While many politicians on the left continue to downplay the issue of election fraud to the dismay of their constituents, threats to free and fair elections continue at an alarming rate,

The Left Strikes Again at Freedom of Speech in Akron, Ohio — Election Integrity is “Off Limits”

The League of Women Voters took issue with the Roundtable inviting me to speak. Its local chapter president, Rosanne Winter, sent the Roundtable a letter expressing the group’s “strong disappointment,” and protesting my choice as a speaker. The Roundtable should select “respected speakers,” said the League, by which it clearly means only those who don’t disagree with the League.

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