On Voting in our sort of Democratic Democracy

The Infrastructure of American Democracy Is Dysfunctional by John Nichols focuses on issues with the current election process in relation to voting. It points out current issues with voting in America, the recommendations put forth by a commission under Obama, and what the author wants to see.

One of the main issues facing voter turnout today is the inconvenience of voting in America. While I have often criticized the Electoral College and first past the post system, under which you could theoretically “become president with only 22% of the popular vote” (CGP Grey) having not yet participated in voting I had no idea that voting is frequently an hours long process taking place on a work day and now feel I have a better understanding of why retired people vote in such larger margins. Another issue brought up is the inconsistencies in how states and cities run their vote. While I personally feel that having a one-size fits all isn’t necessarily the solution, streamlining and improving every cities voting process individual would take much more time and resources to develop.

The commission’s recommendations focused on improving the means by which people vote and allowing them to vote at earlier dates. While allowing people to vote at earlier dates is a step in the right direction, moving the official voting day to a non-work day would help make voting more convenient without confusion of finding when other days are available to vote. I’m unsure of the security of online voting but if it were well implemented I could definitely see it as an easier way for US citizens to vote.

The author expresses how he wants to see more public interest in voting through increasing social education regarding how and why to vote in addition to current plans to make the voting process simpler. While making voting easier to do will make people more interested in the political scene of America, the current system of counting votes through the Electoral College still makes it so that Americans who don’t live in swing states receive very little interest from political campaigns and candidates.

While I found the article informative about the voting process in America, I found its failure to address issues with our election process concerning as I view the inaccuracies in our election process and representation to be a far more significant issue than inconsistent and inconvenient voting processes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wC42HgLA4k Cgp Grey Electoral College