FIRST ON FOX: The Heritage Foundation released its annual Election Integrity Scorecard on Tuesday, which ranks the states it believes are strongest in terms of election integrity, in a review that resulted in Arkansas topping the list.
Arkansas, led by GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, moved up from No. 8 and earned the No. 1 ranking in the new report that was compiled by looking at factors including voter ID implementation, accuracy of voting lists, absentee ballot management, verification of citizenship and other attributes.
In a press release, Sanders touted several accomplishments in a recent legislative session, including Act 240, Act 241 and 218, which the state said "strengthened protections on Arkansas' ballot amendment process so that bad actors cannot influence and change the Natural State's Constitution."
Sanders also signed legislation to prevent foreign entities from funding state and local measures.
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"My goal this session was simple: make it easy to vote and hard to cheat," Sanders said in a statement. "I was proud to work with my friend, Secretary of State Cole Jester, to make Arkansas ballot boxes the safest and most secure in America and end petition fraud to protect our Constitution. Today's announcement shows that all our hard work paid off."
In a statement, Jester said, "As Secretary of State, I have said from day one we would have the most secure elections in the country."
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"I'm proud of the work my team has completed implementing new procedures and technology. None of this would be possible without the great work of Governor Sanders and the men and women of the Arkansas legislature."
Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital that Sanders and the state of Arkansas "deserve serious credit" for their efforts at election integrity.
"States across the country should follow Arkansas' lead by implementing these critical election reforms that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat," Snead said.
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Red states made up the entirety of the top-10 ranking and included Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
The last of the states on the list included Oregon, Vermont, California and Hawaii.
Earlier this year, Snead's Honest Elections Project released a guide, first reported by Fox News Digital, outlining what it said are must-needed reforms to be taken up in states across the country to ensure election integrity.
The report listed more than a dozen "critical" measures ranging from voter ID to cleaning up voter rolls to banning foreign influence in elections.
"Election integrity ballot issues passed with flying colors across the board on election night," Snead said at the time. "Now that state legislative sessions are starting up, lawmakers have a duty to fulfill the mandate the American people gave to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat."
