By Josh Virany ’22, Commentary Writer

Is our right to vote in 2020 or thereafter in jeopardy or facing unnerving challenges? Voting is one of the most fundamental constitutional rights afforded to American citizens. The equal participation of all American citizens in the electoral process is critical to protecting constitutional freedoms, protecting the vulnerable and underserved communities and upholding the rule of law. However, from election to election, across the United States, laws and other measures are increasingly being implemented making it harder to cast a ballot and pushing forward discriminatory changes to voting practices. Additionally, states around the country use voting machines and other tabulation systems that are outdated, broken and vulnerable to human error, data breach and cyberattack. It’s not unusual to see long lines and confused faces at polling places, often resulting in lost votes as frustrated voters exit without casting a ballot. 

Just several weeks ago, voters in Iowa went to caucuses throughout the state on behalf of the candidate they were supporting. The caucuses occur every four years and mark the official start of the primaries for the Democratic and Republican parties. This year’s Iowa Caucuses were disastrous and did not go as planned. The reporting of the votes from the 1,681 precincts to the Iowa Democratic Party was delayed and inconsistent. The Iowa Democratic Party planned on having precinct captains enter the results from their precincts into an app. However, for many precinct captains, the app failed as they had problems downloading and logging into the app. Therefore, these captains were forced to report the results by phone to the Iowa Democratic Party. However, the reporting did not run smoothly as people were left waiting on hold for hours as the Iowa Democratic Party was understaffed that evening. The results for each precinct were ultimately released over the course of the next couple days, but they proved to be inconsistent, causing the Sanders and Buttigieg campaigns to demand recounts. Episodes such as this demonstrate why people are losing faith in the validity of the voting process. 

 Not only are people skeptical of the electoral system, but voter suppression tactics are being utilized to prevent many Americans from being able to cast their votes. These tactics, introduced by individual states, include strict voter-identification laws, reducing early voting, restricting voter registration, poll closures, and mass purging of voter rolls. Certain demographic groups such as minorities, the poor, and the elderly are disproportionately impacted by voter-suppression tactics. For example, during the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia, Brian Kemp, Secretary of State of Georgia, was accused of blocking African Americans from registering to vote. According to an Associated Press report Kemp refused to process 53,000 new voter registration forms, of which 70% were filed by African Americans. Similarly, 36 states had identification requirements at the voting polls. A study conducted by the U.S. The Government Accountability Office found that Voter ID laws reduce voter turnout by 3%, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of votes in a single state. These examples demonstrate how voter suppression is continuously growing and impacting our democratic electoral process. As citizens we must organize and speak out against the cynical tactics of voter suppression and protect the constitutional right to vote.

Our democracy is facing extraordinary challenges as the electoral process and the constitutional right to vote are under attack. I think it is fair to assert that this has not gone unnoticed. Since the Supreme Court decided Shelby County vs. Holder in 2013, states no longer had to approve their voting changes with the federal government.  We have watched many states aggressively react to curb our constitutional right to exercise our voice and our will through our vote. The process is broken as citizens are not only struggling to vote, but at the same time are  highly skeptical of the integrity and accuracy of the voting process, its infrastructure, and its methodology. I believe we need intense passion, activism and extraordinary determination to address these threats to our democratic system. We must penalize governmental officials who take advantage of the electoral process. We must also improve and lessen the requirements needed for people to vote. It simply should not be as hard as it is to exercise our constitutional right. There have already been several legislative pro-voter reforms enacted. It is a beginning, but there is much to do to rebuild trust and respect in our democratic system. 2020 is here and it is vital that each eligible voter turnout across the nation on November 6th to exercise their right to cast a ballot and to preserve the democracy of the United States of America.