MEGA – Make Elections Great Again

Do we have that much time on our hands that we have to devise hacks, design creative systems, develop new technology, or spend more taxpayer money in order to make everything easier? To what end? So we end up with more time on our hands? Simpler, faster, more convenience and efficiency are all worthy goals but should it apply to absolutely everything in our society? Maybe, but not for everything in life. Voting happens to be one of those things that I believe should not be made ‘easy’.

Human nature teaches us that when something becomes increasingly easier over time, we tend to not pay it the importance it deserves or a certain diligence required to attend to it.

Fifty states make their own rules designating dates and deadlines for their documented citizens to register and vote. In my view, it’s a minor downside of Federalism. For most elections this happens on the first Tuesday in November. Okay so far. Special absentee voting rules are made to accommodate voters who know in advance that they will not be present to vote at their designated voting station. Becoming a little more complex but still good because one doesn’t have to know the rules of all 50 states, just the ones applicable to where they are registered.

It’s here where we started to go off the rails in terms of ease and efficiency as the introduction of expanded registration deadlines and methods, ever changing election day protocols, and voting methods have muddied the water for voters of every demographic. Add in Ranked Choice voting and your voice doesn’t mean much anymore. Interestingly enough, most of the complication of a straight forward process rose out of making it easier and more inclusive.

It’s ironic we hear phrases that connote ‘voter suppression’ and the need for more inclusion used more often these days in the era of easy voting. While we could also throw in the health safety excuse for changes in voting protocol it is presumed Covid will soon be a page in history – but don’t expect the changes made under this guise to be as transitory.

The obvious question to ask for people like me with a basic intelligence is; If we continue to go to great lengths to assure everyone has easier access to exercise their right to vote, who exactly in 2021 is being suppressed at the ballot box? Is it a basic voter intelligence issue, an elementary understanding of the rules that apply, or possibly a communication deficit? Is this an inner-city problem or a rural America conundrum? Either way it denigrates the exact persons it tries to address.

The 13th Federal Holiday?

The persistent use of the term ‘voter suppression’ leading up to the 2020 election followed by Georgia’s special election in January 2021 has become a fashionable trigger. The way media outlets played it left one assuming that there is still be a nationwide racial issue as if we still lived in the 1960’s. I, for one think this does an incredible disservice to every non-white person who is eligible to vote as it assumes they aren’t smart enough to access the system because it still remains way too complicated after all the efforts to make it … easy. I reject this, totally. Pandering is a kind way to describe this tactic.

So how does one make the system any easier so as to be effective? By making it more difficult. In doing so it shifts the message from ‘ease and convenience’ to ‘important enough to make the effort’.

1.  Limit the length of early voting. Currently there are provisions in many states to cast a ballot up to 45 days early. Alabama tops that figure at 55 days.

2. Eliminate unsolicited mass mail-in voting. Currently, there are five states that mail ballots to ‘a listed address’ for every registered voter on the voter rolls (dead or alive, in-residence or relocated). This elimination of mail-in voting does not apply to absentee ballot provisions where a formal request is delivered to the local election official by the published deadline.

3. Eliminate unmonitored, unsecured public ballot drop boxes.

4. In person voting limited to one 24-hour period across all 50 states, District of Columbia, and US Territories. This would require more voting stations, better technology, and additional protocols to provide adequate and equal access throughout the 24-hour period. Some districts may require up to 36 hours.

5. To accommodate #3. requires election day to be a Federal Holiday, 1^st Tuesday in November. Schools, banks, businesses, bars, Federal services, etc. only open and operating for a short period, e.g. 9-12 a.m. Emergency services only. Add it to the list of Christmas and Thanksgiving. It’s that important. One day a year the focus should be on exercising your right to vote; not retail.

6. A voter arriving to accept a ballot on which to cast a vote must show a government issued photo ID that is crosschecked with the official voter registration listing. Think about the technology used to get through the airport TSA security checkpoint. If the crosscheck does not produce a confirmed eligibility the voter is given a ‘provisional ballot’ to cast. Determination of eligibility is accomplished within 24 hours so as to be accepted or rejected as per state rules. Government ID’s will be available free of charge up to seven days prior to 1^st Tuesday in November at any state government outlet (DMV, VA, Social Services, etc.) for those needing one.

These ideas are not meant to be punitive, restrictive, or otherwise to be seen with any motive toward suppressing one’s voting rights. Rather, it is meant to draw more focus on what is the most important part of participating in a Republic; choosing who will be our leaders and presumably work in our best interests. Enacting a Federal Holiday, standardizing registration dates and deadlines across all 50 states, DC and territories, restricting the time to cast a ballot to a single 24-hour period, and requiring a photo ID puts all the responsibility on the voter and a direct emphasis on the importance of the act itself. 

Much of this theory comes into conflict with the Founders ideas of Federalism and how states determine how they will conduct their own elections. I admit to grappling with this conflict while pondering this issue. It remains unresolved to an extent.

The overriding thought is that as we continue to make life (voting) easier we tend to not pay appropriate attention to important responsibilities we have as citizens.