Voting Determines The Quality Of Democracy
Voting Determines The Quality Of Democracy
We should make every effort to get every voting age American to the ballot box.
As election season gets fully underway, the topic of voting and voting restrictions will begin again.
A Democracy is measured by how much of its population participates in the process. During the 2020 Presidential election the US hit a new high in voter turnout that was celebrated in all of the news, 65%. A solid D in grading terms and that was an achievement.
We can do better and we should do better. Other nations, even ones without compulsory voting laws, score much higher than the US. America should be making every positive change we can to get people to turn out to vote.
A popular Republican topic is referencing a poll which shows that 79% of Americans support voter photo ID laws. This refers to a law where voters are required to show an accepted photo ID in order to cast their ballot.
This is accurate, the poll does show that level of support. However, the Republicans don’t reference the rest of the questions in that poll.
While we’re looking at polls showing what the population wants, let’s look at recent polling about how Americans feel about guaranteeing the right to vote to all citizens, including convicted criminals both in prison and after their term is finished.
Turns out the majority want citizens convicted of crimes, even felony crimes, to be able to vote.
Felony convictions alone prohibit almost 5 million Americans from voting. It is clear how this will help more people vote. Let’s look at the other poll questions.
Not all states require businesses to give workers time off to vote. Those that do give time off may give as little as an hour and not all states require that the worker be paid for that time off. Someone who is struggling to pay rent or buy food may not feel they have an actual option to take the time off to vote.
By allowing early voting, every voter has more flexibility in when they cast their ballot, making it easier for individuals to find the time to vote.
When it comes election time, it may have slipped someone’s mind to register beforehand or they may not be sure if they are registered properly.
Automatic voter registration removes a hurdle in this process. Combine it with same day registration and every voting age American can feel comfortable showing up to the polls knowing they can vote.
There are people who have medical conditions preventing them from leaving their house, and others who may be traveling during an election period. Absentee ballots and mail in ballots sent to all registered voters ensures these individuals can vote. Mail in voting has also been shown to increase voter turnout.
That ties directly into another polling question, number of ballot drop boxes. Most voters want plenty of these boxes, to make sure there is a drop box within a short distance from every voter. Again this helps voters turn in their ballot as it is an easy process that they can do on their way to work or the grocery store.
Every single one of these measures would help increase voter turnout. So why are the Republicans only looking at one of the questions polled, Voter ID laws?
They’ll tout that they’re concerned with voter fraud, but that isn’t true. America’s elections are safe. There has been no meaningful amount of voter fraud in modern day elections and the 2020 Presidential election was secure and valid.
Voter ID laws are actually a way for the GOP to reduce voter turnout. And in particular, reduce voting turnout from groups that typically vote more for Democrats than Republicans.
It is in league with tactics such as gerrymandering to sway the outcome of elections without having to sway voters themselves.
The voter ID rules have already prevented IDs that should be valid, such as student IDs. College students don’t always have driver’s licenses or passports, and they also happen to be a core group of Democrat voters.
Ohio doesn’t even allow military IDs. If they don’t think military IDs are safe and secure then what is?
We should respect what the population wants and we should also make sure that every voter has a valid ID they can easily use to vote.
It is time for a National ID.
Other countries have had success with having a national ID that is automatically given to every legal citizen when they turn 16.The need for such an ID will only grow over time.
More people are relying on rideshare systems such as Uber and Lyft. Self driving cars aren’t here yet, but they will be in the future. Fewer people will have driver licenses as we move forward.
There is one last change to voting to improve both voter turnout and voter choice. Ranked Choice Voting.
A quick rundown on how it works.
Ranked Choice Voting simply means that when you have a ballot with multiple candidates, you rank them in order of preference. You also do not have to rank all of the candidates.
Ranked Choice Voting works like this:
If any candidate receives over 50% of the vote, they win the election. Nothing is different from the elections you’re used to. This is always the case for an election with only 2 candidates.
If no candidate received over 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Anyone who voted for that candidate as their first choice has their vote applied to their second choice candidate.
Anyone who didn’t make a second choice has their vote removed from the tally.
The votes are tallied again and as before if any candidate has over 50% of the vote they win, if not the process is repeated.
Ranked Choice Voting ensures that the candidate elected is the choice of the majority of the population.
In a traditional election that has several candidates, voters can end up with a representative that fewer than half of the population supports or the need for a runoff election which means more campaigning, more costs, and people need to show up for another vote.
Ranked Choice Voting also removes the spoiler effect that can happen with third party or independent candidates which increases voter choice and allows new voices in politics.
And this is why politicians have been against it. Not because of losing power to independents or new parties. It is because they have utilized the spoiler effect to win elections.
There have been cases of politicians funding spoiler candidates that can pull votes from their opponent. In tight races this can, and has, changed the outcome of the election.
It is a dirty trick, and potentially illegal depending on how it is done, but it is a powerful play in an imperfect system.
It is time to make voting work for the people, not the politicians, with meaningful changes to our voting laws.