The 2020 election was historic in many ways. It was the largest overall turnout in history, there was more access to voting than in prior elections, and there were a slew of new protocols due to the pandemic. Also, after the election, in part due to former President Donald Trump claiming the election was ‘stolen’, and the plethora of lawsuits the Trump team filed post-election, confidence in our electoral process dropped to the lowest it’s been in modern history. In addition, during the election and early voting, the TV was plastered with images of people standing hours in line, and even showing up the day before voting open just to vote! And, these long lines, were in places that have had a history of voter suppression – primarily ethnic minority neighborhoods.
Consequently, election reform became a major topic after the election. But what type of reforms do we need? Often times the more security measures you place on voting, the harder it is for people to vote. Take Texas’s voter ID law for example. Texas is one of the few states in America that require a birth certificate to get a driver’s license. In addition, with so little state funding for social services, there are fewer locations to even get an ID than in other states. And some TX residents have to travel a few counties over to find the closest DPS. Consequently, Texas is one of the lowest voter turnout states in the US. Conversely, the more open the process becomes, one could see bad actors taking advantage lax laws, which could very lead to an increase of fraud or at the minimum more voting irregularities.
First, do you think we need fundamental election (or voting) reform in this country and why? If yes, what areas do you think need to be improved upon.
you must reference at least one article correctly in the body of the post (not simply cutting and pasting the URL after your post),use college level grammar and sentence structure, and be at least 250 words long
can you please use one of the article
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-we-know-about-voter-id-laws/
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/georgia/articles/2021-01-08/georgia-legislature-braces-for-a-battle-over-voting-laws
https://rollcall.com/2021/08/17/house-revises-voting-rights-bill-to-boost-justice-department-powers-to-challenge-states/
can u reply for this one please
Taking into account how things currently work in the government and the potential external influences we might face, I believe we need fundamental voting reform in this country. The reason why I believe this is because the current election process lacks transparency and has little cyber defense against external attacks. According to The Hill’s article, election security has been a hotly debated topic on Capitol Hill in the years since the 2016 presidential election when Russian agents launched a hacking and disinformation campaign aimed at swaying the election toward now-President Trump. The issue gained further attention in October, when federal officials revealed that Iran and Russia were seeking to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, including through spoofed voter intimidation emails. As a result, many people, including myself, have formed negative opinions about the voting process. One of the areas that could be improved is the extreme polarization between the political parties. As Mark Waner stated in The Hill’s article, “this is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. This is about increasing public transparency and making sure that our adversaries cannot use our own technology platforms to interfere in our election or undermine our democracy.” It is not about whose interests will be served or harmed; it is about a national issue that has a significant impact on American society. Above all, we must safeguard our society against potential foreign threats. It is well known that when a country’s government is divided, it is the best time to sabotage it. Because they are so focused on protecting their own interests, they might allow the enemy to invade confidential government business.
