Anaheim, CA — Last weekend delegates from the GRA joined with NFRA members from around the country who overwhelmingly approved adding election integrity to the Principles of the NFRA. The NFRA 2025 Biennial Convention was held at the Hilton Anaheim and was hosted by the California Republican Assembly, the state chapter that originally launched the Republican Assembly back in the 1930s.

The Missouri Republican Assembly delegation led a successful effort in the meeting to ensure the RA Principles could not be changed without a 2/3rds vote of approval. On the heels of this subject, GRA President Nathaniel Darnell made a motion to add a plank supporting Election Integrity to the list of core Republican Principles. This was a suggestion of a GRA member earlier this year. “I believe our members all across the country would overwhelmingly support adding Election Integrity to the list of principles!” declared Darnell.

One of the delegates from another state asked why the issue couldn’t simply be addressed in a resolution.

“Election Integrity is not just a temporary issue that we might want to address in a resolution because of recent circumstances,” Darnell answered. “It is on-going issue that requires permanent adherence. Recent elections since 2020 have only drawn attention to the extent of the problem. But we need to make clear that this is a universal issue that will require eternal vigilance!”

Christy Haik, the Louisiana RA President, also stressed the importance of adding this subject to the list of principles now. She reported on the problems Louisiana has been dealing with on Election Integrity reform with their Secretary of State.

Debate on the exact working of the statement on Election Integrity ensued in the Board Meeting. As a result, Darnell made a motion that NFRA President Alex Johnson appoint a sub-committee to craft the exact wording over the weekend and present it to Board for approval on the final day of the convention. The motion was approved, and Johnson appointed Haik as the Chairwoman of the sub-committee, calling for other Board members with a strong opinion on Election Integrity reform to volunteer to serve on the committee. Among those appointed to the committee were Mark Mnich from Connecticut, California RA President Carl Brickey, and Darnell from Georgia.

The sub-committee met to assemble the key ideas they wanted to be included in the statement. Several advocated that the issue to be stated as a general principle, and not to be so specific as to sound like a policy statement. The final wording of the statement was assembled by Mnich.

In presenting the statement to the Board on the final day of the convention, Haik said, “I think we’ve got a really nice wording. This would be our 14th principle.”

The drafted statement read:

“ELECTION INTEGRITY:
“We believe that free and fair elections are essential to preserving our Republic.
Preventing fraudulent ballots from being submitted or counted is key to safeguarding our basic civil right of one citizen, one vote. To ensure that our elections are secure, transparent, and auditable, we advocate for using hand-marked certifiable paper ballots counted at the precinct level, instead of electronic voting machines, for requiring government-issued photo ID, for cleaning voter rolls regularly, and for allowing only U.S. citizens to vote.”

This draft was adopted unanimously by the NFRA Board. You can view the statement on the NFRA’s Statement of Principles, as well as the GRA’s Statement of Principles as an affiliate state organization of the NFRA. The GRA stands resolutely in favor of meaningful election integrity reform that will ensure our elections are trustworthy and transparent moving forward and urges our elected Republican officials in Atlanta to do everything within their power to accomplish that objective.