Thoughts on a Better Voting System for the United States
It’s the 21st century. Why aren’t we better than this?
I’ve never been one to wade into the world of politics because I’ve quickly learned that it can be very polarizing in my brief conversations with friends and family. But after experiencing and voting through multiple elections, I’ve noticed some disturbing trends.
Growing up, we’re taught that our voice is incredibly important, and we exercise that voice through our ability to vote. Yet, there are countless examples of voter suppression every time we go through an election. It’s the 21st century. Why aren’t we better than this?
I’m just an average guy. Nobody special. I don’t have a particularly strong lean one way or another. I don’t pretend to know the nuances of politics. But, as I wake up, hearing more stories of long voting lines, or mail-in ballots being rejected, it sounds like we’re not doing our best to let voters’ voices be heard. It seems like there are some pretty simple concepts we could explore to make voting a simpler and more fair experience for everyone.
Just as a heads up — many of these could be addressed by handling certain election decisions at the federal level and not at the state level. All levels of government play an essential role in our elections (and should continue to do so!), but there’s really no reason why things should be so different across our country. Some of these ideas, and the overarching theme of a strong federal infrastructure for safe and secure voting are aimed at our congressional and presidential elections. But I believe a strong infrastructure should be able to support all levels of elections, including our most local ones.
And second, because some might find these views controversial, I’ll mention again that I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican. However, I am a designer. And as a designer, I approach problem solving by first imagining the desired end result. And in this case, that end result is a great, safe, and secure voting experience for everyone.
1. If You Live in This Country, You Should Be Allowed to Vote
Let’s get the most controversial one out of the way first. If you live in this country and are of the appropriate age to vote, you should be allowed to vote. (I want to clarify — I’m not talking about anybody who is visiting… I’m saying if you live somewhere in the United States and call this country your “home”.)
The general mindset here is that we should be making voting easy and accessible for as many people as possible across the country.
We shouldn’t suppress or disenfranchise voters inconsistently across the country, where it may give an unfair advantage to a particular political party. What I care most about, and what I feel we should all care most about, is hearing the people’s voice, and giving them the confidence that their voice matters.
Today, only US citizens in the 50 states + DC can vote. So who does that leave out? United States citizens in US territories like Guam or Puerto Rico. Also, noncitizens like Green Card holders and nonimmigrant visa holders.
Those noncitizen groups are called nonresident aliens. And guess what — nonresident aliens have to pay taxes. So why can’t they vote in elections? Sounds a bit like taxation without representation, eh?
On the topic of territories, their tax situation is a little more complicated. And there is some representation through ‘non-voting delegates.’ (Seriously, what’s the point of a non-voting delegate?) But, a better question here is, shouldn’t those territories be granted statehood, with all the other rights and privileges?)
What about felons? It might surprise you to know that states across the United States are in very different places on this topic. Some states allow convicted felons to retain their right to vote, and others do not. I think this is something we should explore more deeply but should be treated consistently across the country.
2. All States Should Be Treated The Same
With perhaps the most controversial topic out of the way, if you’re still with me, let’s talk about all states being treated the same. When it comes to registration deadlines, extensions, early voting periods, and the like, I can’t see a solid argument for why states treat these differently. All states should be treated the same.
And adjustments to these rules shouldn’t be able to be fought between parties or battled out endlessly through our judicial system. We should create a consistent and fair rule and apply it consistently to all of the states.
Again, this is a symptom of most election policies being handled at a state level.
3. All Ballots Should Look The Same
All ballots should look and feel the same. When you compare sample ballots across the country, it is amazing to see so many different types and systems. You fill this thing out in this state and you punch this card in another state. Why aren’t these consistent?
4. You Should Be Able to Get a Ballot in Your Language
This isn’t really that complicated. (And don’t give me extreme examples of someone demanding a ballot in Klingon.) My point is that if you speak another language natively, and you would prefer to have your ballot in that language, why can’t you? If it is easier for you to understand a ballot, because it’s in your native language, then why can’t you have one in your native language?
5. You Should Be Able to Vote Through a Variety of Means
In person. By mail. Or digitally. There’s a lot we need to figure out here, to make this safe, secure and accurate. But honestly, why shouldn’t these all be viable options?
6. You Should Be Able to Verify That Your Vote Was Counted and Received
With today’s technology, it should be relatively simple to create a system where I could go online or dial into an automated system to hear the status of my vote.
In fact, some counties have systems like this today! But you might not be surprised to learn that every county is different, and many don’t have a reliable system at all.
7. If Your Ballot Is Rejected, You Should Be Able to Fix It
If your ballot is rejected for some reason, you must be notified about it immediately and given time to fix the mistake. Simple concept. No fine print. Your vote matters, and it will count.
8. If You Vote Early, You Can Change Your Ballot if Necessary
With more people taking advantage of early voting, more people are deciding their vote well in advance of Election Day. But what if something cataclysmic happens? Some new thing emerges in the last few days that causes you to rethink your choice?
Think this might not be important? What if a candidate died before Election Day? Depending on timing until Election Day, if a major candidate died, the DNC or RNC have processes to replace a deceased nominee. But what if that really changed everything for you?
If you vote early but choose to change your ballot, you should be able to do so up until a specific deadline before the election. Let’s call it the ‘amended vote deadline.’ You can amend your taxes, so why not your vote? But in this case, that amended vote deadline is still before Election Day.
9. As Votes Come In, They Should Be Counted
If votes come in early, they should be counted early, in a safe and secure manner. I’m not saying those results are publicized or shared, but we should do everything we can to reduce the amount of counting that needs to be done on Election Day. Let’s aim to wrap things up as much as possible on election night, and if we can get a head start by counting votes after they’ve passed our ‘amended vote deadline,’ then we should.
10. Ballots Should Receive the Highest Priority Through USPS
Votes should automatically be given the highest priority through our postal service. We have overnight, one day and two day delivery options. Those should be available to the voter at no expense.
A voter shouldn’t have to pay for postage to get their vote heard.
And here’s a nice little side benefit of that — if the federal government paid for the postage on our ballots, wouldn’t that bring some much needed income to our postal service? (Yes.)
11. Votes Postmarked By Election Day Count
In this election, both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have sought to extend mail-in voting deadlines. An average intelligent person might think that we would ultimately handle these the same, but that’s not the case. Why is that?
Votes by mail should be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received up to three days after. Why three days? Well, hypothetically speaking, if for some reason a ballot needed to be mailed from Honolulu, Hawaii to Bangor, Maine, the USPS can deliver that in two days. Allowing some buffer time, such as three days afterward, sounds like an equitable and fair compromise.
12. Voting Locations Must Be Easily Accessible
Voting locations (including drop box locations) must be easily accessible by voters and no more than a 20-mile drive away. (But ideally, a lot closer.). This story of a woman who drove 300 miles to her closest voting location is nothing short of another example of voter suppression.
Oh, by the way, speaking of drop boxes, if you could deliver your ballot through the Post Office without paying postage, then we wouldn’t need to invest in additional drop boxes, and all of these weird stories of fake drop boxes or sabotage to drop boxes wouldn’t even exist.
13. Long Voting Lines Are Unacceptable
We need to do something about the long lines experienced by folks when they go to vote. I don’t have any great ideas here, but it seems like if we did our jobs with an accurate US Census, and know the population of an area, then we could staff the appropriate number of people at voting locations to reduce these lines.
Walt Disney World has long lines, and they’ve figured out how to reduce that line for folks through ‘fast passes’ and appointment times. What would it look like if we did something similar? Again, consistently across the country.
On that note, in some cases, it may be difficult to staff enough people at a polling location. Surely we can find a better solution for this? It’s my civic duty to be a juror, what about something similar for a polling place? Unfortunately, we have no shortage of unemployed workers.
14. Disband The Electoral College
Finally — what is up with the Electoral College? Why does that still exist? Let’s let the popular vote determine the winner. (Fun Fact: Thanks to the Electoral College, a vote for president in Wyoming is worth 3.6 times as much as a vote in California.) I’m not a legal scholar, but I’ll tell ya that the sniff test says that if your vote doesn’t count as much as mine does, that’s unconstitutional.
Again, these are just some thought starters. There are plenty of other great topics related to this, like gerrymandering and campaign finance, but we’ll save those for another day. I’m sure plenty of people will have opposing views, and that could lead to some healthy discussion. But ultimately, I leave you with where we started. It’s the 21st century. Why aren’t we doing better?
