July 25, 2019

Mitch McConnell is right. Secure, open elections would elect more Democrats.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/25/mitch-mcconnell-is-right-secure-open-elections-would-elect-more-democrats/?fbclid=IwAR0CxOieLFVa3GsApDjTBigqCERxbC4hBrYxU-tfrlj-DI9HoouDsfY0Joc&utm_term=.4bbc6c1f79fb
"The legislation to which McConnell refers, the one that passed the House, is pretty straightforward. It requires voter-verifiable paper ballots and voting machines that don’t connect directly to the internet, so that recounts can be done accurately and there’s less vulnerability to hacking. It gives states money to secure their systems. It instructs the Election Assistance Commission to do a study to determine optimal ballot designs to minimize voter confusion and errors. You wouldn’t think there’s anything there that would particularly advantage one party over another. But that’s only if you didn’t know how voting really works in this country. That’s because so much of what plagues our election system works to the advantage of the GOP, in part because their voters tend to be older and wealthier, and in part because of all the effort Republicans have put into erecting obstacles in the path of Democratic-leaning constituencies attempting to vote, not to mention the gerrymandering that makes Republican votes worth more and the electoral college that does the same. And of course, let’s not forget that the leader of the Republican Party said publicly that if a foreign power offered him help in his reelection bid, he’d accept it. Republicans just aren’t willing to impede the progress of any thumb on its way to the electoral scale, especially if the thumb belongs to Vladimir Putin."