LogFAQs > #923828039

Elections are the foundation of our democracy, but in the United States the greatest democracy in the world our government treats voting like its one of the least important things we do. We have around 8,000 election jurisdictions all doing their own thing. They are overstretched, under-resourced, and their technology is often laughably out of date.
Voting should be easy. But instead, many states make it hard for people to vote. We have all heard stories about polling places running out of ballots, computer problems causing delays, ballot designs confusing voters, and extremely long lines preventing working people from voting. And on top of these administrative issues, racist and partisan officials often deliberately seek to stop citizens from exercising the right to vote. States have purged names from the voter rolls, limited same-day registration, closed polling places in communities of color, used voter ID laws to try to disenfranchise Native Americans, and even placed restrictions and criminal penalties on efforts to register new voters.
Our elections should be as secure as Fort Knox. But instead, theyre less secure than your Amazon account. State and local officials take their jobs seriously, but they often dont have the resources to secure their elections. Even then, its hard for local officials to defend against attacks from foreign governments. In the 2016 election, the Russian government tried to infiltrate at least 39 state election systems and at least one election equipment company. They tried to spear-phish more than 100 local election officials email accounts. They even successfully broke into several voter registration databases.
The harsh truth is that our elections are extremely vulnerable to attack: Forty-two states use voter registration databases that are more than a decade old. Laughably, in 2019, some still use Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Twelve states still use paperless machines, meaning theres no paper trail to verify vote counts. Some states dont require post-election audits. And ten states dont train election officials to deal with cybersecurity threats. This is a national security threat, and three years after a hostile foreign power literally attacked our democracy, weve done far too little to address it.
We need a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote. But the moral necessity of this amendment shouldnt stop us from acting now. The federal government already has the power to regulate federal elections, secure our democracy, and put a stop to racist voter suppression.
Under our Constitution, Congress can regulate the Times, Places, and Manner, of federal elections. This power is so broad that even Justice Scalia believed this provision gives Congress authority to provide a complete code for congressional elections. Congress also has the power to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments to prevent voting discrimination, and the power of the purse to grant money to the states to meet federal standards. Its time to draw on these constitutional powers to strengthen our democracy.

Enough is enough. It is time to make high-quality voting in the greatest democracy in the world easy, convenient, and professional. Its time to secure our elections from all threats, foreign and domestic. Its time to address election security, administration problems, and voter suppression.