Voting Rights and Democracy on the Balot

Voting Rights and Democracy on the Ballot

Lizzy Obrand Artwork (right) by Merry May Ma, staff artist

There are so many policy platforms being discussed in the Democratic primary nomination process, but the most important one in my opinion is being overlooked. In the wake of Donald Trump’s impeachment “trial” coming to the conclusion that it did, the most important issue on the ballot in 2020 is protecting our democracy. In the United States, it is easy to think of ourselves as the most democratic nation in the world, yet we are slipping down the rankings in categories such as voting rights, fair districting, and the level of misinformation that is spread.

According to the Electoral Integrity Project, “U.S. elections rank last among all Western democracies,” right behind Lithuania. The lowest category was electoral laws, which according to the Electoral Integrity Worldwide means that laws are “unfair to smaller parties,” “favored the governing party,” and “restricted citizens’ rights.” Protecting and expanding voting rights has become a partisan issue in recent years. Two examples of this are Republican - dominated state governments in Florida and Missouri attempting to override successful ballot initiatives from 2018 that enhanced voting rights and stopped gerrymandering, respectively. In contrast to this, Senate Democrats released a plan to help expand the electorate by creating automatic voter registration and providing statehood to Washington D.C.

The most important issue on the ballot in 2020 is protecting our democracy.

Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden) support overturning Citizens United—the court case that said that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend independently in elections. Citizens United has allowed for the proliferation of Political Action Committees (PACs) that funnel millions and millions of dollars into politics. Now, not all PACs are bad, but I believe that politics should be funded either by public money or by grassroots donations. Overturning Citizens United would make it impossible for special interest groups to have the amount of power they currently do over politicians.

Another important issue that candidates have mentioned is abolishing the Electoral College. This is much more controversial than many of the other plans put forward by candidates, and there are questions of whether it is even feasible due to the electoral college's roots in the Constitution.

The 2020 Democratic primary candidates each recognize that protecting our democracy is a very important issue and they have each put out plans to address numerous facets of the problem. Ideas such as making Election Day a national holiday, automatic voter registration, and more accessible mail-in ballots in every state have been proposed. I am going to do my best to explain the main issues at hand and show which candidates support which policies.

First, all of the leading candidates (Bernie Mayor Buttigieg, Senator Warren, and Senator Sanders support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of adopting a national popular vote instead. Citizens and representatives from smaller states are more likely to disapprove because the Electoral College provides them with a greater voice than they would receive through a popular vote.

Making Election Day a national holiday in order to ensure that work is not a barrier for voters has been advocated for by all candidates except Vice President Biden and Mayor Bloomberg.

All candidates support legislation that would make voter registration automatic on a citizen’s eighteenth birthday. This would eliminate yet another barrier for voters, especially if their state does not allow same day voter registration, like Missouri. Voter registration can be a burdensome process for citizens, especially in states that have robust voter ID laws or for citizens whose first language is not English. Creating automatic voter registration would simply remove one of the burdens that people are subject to in order to vote.

Not only is it important that people are registered to vote and have time off work, it is also important to expand the electorate to people in Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. All candidates support statehood for D.C., and a majority of the candidates (except Bloomberg who says that they should automatically become a state and is not for holding a referendum) support a plan for Puerto Ricans to be able to decide their voting status for themselves.

All of the top candidates are also in favor of creating non-partisan, independent commissions to redistribute, thus ending the partisan gerrymandering processes that have led to voters feeling as though their votes don’t even matter. Gerrymandering occurs when there is redistricting due to the new population distribution following a census. When the population shifts, the state legislatures have to redraw the lines of the congressional districts for their state. Oftentimes, the party that controls the state legislature will redraw these lines in their own party’s favor, which can then shape which party gets elected in those districts.

While most of these plans are quite popular within the Democratic Party and among the general electorate itself, it would be nearly impossible to pass some of these legislative

Candidates have proposed using legislation, constitutional amendments, and/or executive orders to be able to achieve their plans.

initiatives with the filibuster in the Senate. The filibuster is when senators are able to speak for as long as they would like in order to delay a vote from occurring. The only way to end a filibuster is to have a cloture vote, which requires three fifths of the senate. This means that even if the Democrats win the Senate in 2020, they can still be blocked by Republicans. Two candidates are in favor of eliminating the filibuster: Mayor Buttigieg and Senator Warren. However, even if Democrats win a Senate majority, they may not be able to push through a vote to abolish the filibuster because there is still a significant number of Democratic senators who do not support the removal of the filibuster.

There is consensus within the Democratic Party that something needs to change with regards to American Democracy, and there are many different ways to go about this. Candidates have proposed using legislation, constitutional amendments, and/or executive orders to be able to achieve their plans that are outlined above if they do end up becoming the next President. The real change can begin once everyone has the opportunity to vote and the representatives are listening solely to their voters

rather than the PACs and lobbyists that fund their campaigns. May the best candidate win.

For more detailed information, the Washington Post has a fantastic webpage to visit that outlines each candidate’s stance on these issues and many more issues that are vitally important in 2020.) https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/ politics/policy-2020/. Lizzy Obrand ‘21 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at ehobrand@wustl. edu.