Lessons Learned: Exploring a Conservative Agenda to Build Trust in Elections

Over the beginning of 2024, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the R Street Institute (RSI) have jointly led an effort to build and explore a conservative agenda for building trust in elections. To facilitate the creation of such an agenda, leaders from SNF Agora and R Street have traveled across the country, holding convenings with conservative elected officials, election administrators, and local leaders in numerous states: Wisconsin, Arizona, Virginia, Georgia, Utah, Kansas, Idaho, Nevada, Tennessee, Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Michigan. In the fall, the convenings will continue in Idaho, Nevada, Tennessee, Wyoming, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

This report details lessons learned from the initiative so far.  The main takeaways include:

• A conservative agenda for restoring trust in elections is needed;
• It’s critical to focus on behavior and norms over outcomes;
• People are worried;
• A deep frustration exists towards local parties;
• Democracy has become a partisan coded term.

We also worked with Gallup to conduct polling focused on election trust in each state.

We look forward to continuing this work in the fall in advance of the 2024 general election.