“Experts agree that the health of U.S. democracy has declined in recent years—but what does that mean? The United States is experiencing two major forms of democratic erosion in its governing institutions: election manipulation and executive overreach.”  (https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-democratic-decline-in-the-united-states/)

Next, we cover election manipulation.

1. The electoral college

“… the president is chosen not by “we the people”, but indirectly by 538 electors apportioned by state”called the Electoral College.  STUPID

“…the electoral college today gives Republican presidential candidates a 4% to 5% advantage over their Democratic rivals.”  STUPID

Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Donald Trump and should have been declared the winner but NO!  STUPID

Solutions:

John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA)
Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA)

2. Voter suppression

“We have seen this cycle an effort by the Republican party to make it harder, wherever possible, to vote – especially for black and minority populations,”  STUPID

EXAMPLE: “Florida’s Republicans immediately set about undermining the will of the electorate, putting in place a bureaucratic maze that former felons had to negotiate before they could vote. It was so convoluted that almost 900,000 people were still disenfranchised on election day – including about one in every six black Floridians of voting age.”

Solutions:

John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA)
Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA)

3. The Senate

“The structure of the Senate is an outdated, racist, Jim Crow relic meant to enshrine white landowner power in our government, by prioritizing land over people.” 

“This distortion favors senators from low-population rural states with largely white electorates, such as Montana and the Dakotas, and helps explain the Republicans’ stranglehold on Congress.”   STUPID

Solutions:

John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA)
Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA)

4. Judges

“We’ve had polling place reductions, massive voter purges, a voter-ID law – all attempts by the right wing to consolidate their power and shrink the electorate.”

 “We are certainly going to feel it down the line as these rightwing judges, appointed to lifetime positions, obstruct us as we pull out all the stops to provide relief to our folks.”  STUPID

Solutions:

John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA)
Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA)

5. Redistricting – Gerrymandering.

“Failure to take control in Texas and elsewhere hands Republicans the gift of controlling the 10-year redistricting process in which electoral boundaries are drawn. As was seen in the last round in 2010, after the Tea Party upheaval swept Republicans to power in several states, they proved themselves to be devastatingly effective at drawing those lines in their own favor – gerrymandering.”  STUPID.

Solutions:

John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA)
Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA)

NOTE: MOST OR ALL OF THE ABOVE BULLET POINTS ARE USED BY REPUBLICANS. 

SOLUTIONS

(Brennan Center For Justice)

Enact Automatic Voter Registration

“Currently there there are 24 states and the District of Columbia that have adopted voter registration automation.”  Note that there are 50 states, thus only half support full democratic voter registration.
“Congress should pass the Automatic Voter Registration Act, and states should continue to adopt automatic voter registration.”

Restore the Voting Rights Act

“Congress should restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, and states should supplement those protections.  This essential bill would restore the Voting Rights Act to its original strength and add additional protections that are needed today.”  

Expand Early Voting

“Congress should set minimum early voting requirements in federal elections, and the states that don’t offer early voting should adopt it.”

Prevent Long Lines at the Polls

“Congress and the states should set and enforce standards to ensure all polling places have sufficient voting machines, poll workers, and other resources to avoid long lines.”

Some sources for this blog:

(https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/voting-reform/strengthening-voting-rights-act)

(https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/voting-reform)
(https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/democracy-election-agenda-candidates-activists-and-legislators)

Posted August 24, 2024.     Posted by: Score Card