One of the (far too many) newsletters I get is one from Democracy Docket. Founded by lawyer Marc Elias in 2020, the platform is dedicated to information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections. It’s especially focused on the multiple lawsuits Elias and his firm have brought against the Trump administration–most of which they’ve won.
A recent newsletter was a bit different: it was a list of suggested laws that would protect voting rights.
The newsletter presented the list for consideration by Blue states, presumably because the adoption of such protections would be highly unlikely in Red states like Indiana. (Actually, I think a strategically-smart campaign to protect the vote might do better than the organization thinks…at least, it would be worth a try. Opposing people’s right to cast a ballot is a dicey position–at least, it should be.)
So what are the laws that Democracy Docket believes would strengthen voting rights?
The first is somewhat surprising–passing a statute protecting the right to vote. There is no right to vote in the federal constitution, and although some state constitution include such protections, Elias tells us that “too often these rights are ill-defined or have been limited by past legal precedent.” An explicit, statutory right to vote would correct the ambiguities.
The second is common sense; we need to get over the “signature matching” that states employ to (theoretically) authenticate mail-in votes. As Elias writes,
The problems with this approach are serious. Every election, hundreds of thousands of lawful ballots are discarded because an election official decides that, in their opinion, two signatures do not match. We need to ban this harmful practice.
First, there is no requirement that a voter maintain a consistent signature to exercise the right to vote. Many voters, particularly young voters, do not keep a consistent signature across documents. With more voters registering on tablets, this problem is worsening with each passing election.
Second, there is simply no science supporting the current practice of having election workers compare a single signature to the image of a specimen signature on file. Election officials are not experts in signature comparison, and true experts have repeatedly testified that the methods used by states to compare signatures cannot support the current practice.
This proposal really resonated with me, because my own signature has changed immensely since I began using the computer for most of my communications. Even on the rare occasion when I have to write a check rather than paying online, my current chicken scratches bear little resemblance to the handwriting of my younger days.
Third on the list should be a no-brainer. Count every ballot postmarked before election day, even if they arrive a few days later due to postal delays. Voters who follow the rules shouldn’t be disenfranchised because of post office delays.
Number Four will never get passed. Elias wants states to guarantee voters that they won’t have to wait in line more than 30 minutes. He’s absolutely correct when he points out that long lines discourage voters and disproportionately penalize voters who can least afford time off work, but there are numerous reasons such a rule would be impractical–everything from machine breakdowns to unanticipated rates of turnout could make compliance a nightmare. Extending early voting and voting hours might be a more practical way to reduce wait times.
The fifth proposal is a ban on third-party voter challenges and other forms of what Elias calles “vigilantism.”
No one should have their registration or right to vote challenged by a random stranger they do not know and have never met. Yet that is what is happening in too many places.
Republicans have built private voter databases used to encourage third-party activists and election vigilantes to submit spreadsheets of voters they want removed from the rolls or hassled at polling places. This practice should be banned and outlawed.
Along the same lines, his sixth proposal is to impose civil and criminal penalties for voter harassment and intimidation, and the seventh and final item on his voting wishlist is to strengthen the vote certification process. As we’ve seen in the Trump “big lie” era, that process has been weaponized– local election offices are increasingly filled with election deniers, and people serving on county election boards are being pressured not to certify accurate results.
Some of these measures would be difficult to pass in Red states, but assuming a vigorous grass-roots campaign, others might actually be adopted. Even if they weren’t, such a campaign would force wider recognition of the barriers people face to having their votes counted.
Worth considering…..
Gosh. Silly me keeps thinking that “red” states are all about the rights of citizens to choose their representatives, the rule of law and the letter/intention of the Constitution. Where did it all go wrong.
I served as an election judge in Texas for a couple of major votes … including the election of Barack Obama. There were NO issues as described above, then, my district/precinct was small and populated with real Americans who valued the sanctity of the vote.
That all said, why not make election day a holiday. That would reduce the number of “special elections” as well as eliminate the worries about voters getting to and from work.
Silly me.
Shouldn’t the voters in Red States be the ones confronted with the laws being denied to all voters depending on changing district lines? Blue States understand those proposed solutions. There must be real American voters remaining in red states; I am one of them here in Indiana whose House is in the process of sitting in their 2026 Legislative session in-fighting AGAINST redistricting or gerrymandering or its actual name of Trump ordered anti-democracy, anti-Rule of Law and anti-Constitution of the United States of America. There must be a law, a rule, an ordinance, some legal recourse to stop the 2026 Legislative Session being held in 2025! We shouldn’t need to pass laws the force upholding the laws of the land of the free and home of the brave as America is being deconstructed as we watch.
What good is any of these good ideas to overcome what is Fascism, by any other name you want to give it, when the current president, full body of Congress is upheld by the Supreme Court to continue and expand their deconstruction of government and the physical deconstruction of the home of our elected leader. We here on the blog are a bunch of do-gooders and bleeding-heart-liberals, with a few noticeable exceptions, who have a sounding board allowing us to post our individual views of the coming Holocaust. Trump has declared in public that we are at war with Venezuela. It was his response to a reporter (a woman of course) yesterday who questioned if he ordered the killing of of those on the boats this country has blown up was that he order destruction of the boats. Another non-answer with another obvious ignorant response from Trump. The man and his followers are Fascists of the lowest intelligence level and we are at their mercy.
We cannot possibly hope to maintain our right to vote under this current leadership; all of our great ideas and good intentions are on that proverbial “paved road to hell”. The only solution I see to ridding this nation of Donald Trump is the Mussolini Solution.
That wish list is attempting to strip away power from the political class, so it will never get passed. It’s the same as eliminating money from the political process. You saw how they all broke down and cried when someone proposed preventing insider trading. Both sides cried like babies.
Vern’s idea of making Election Day a holiday is probably the best way to make voting easier.
We have the NSA and the most sophisticated technical systems on the planet. We can send up Hubble telescopes to gather amazing images. We’ve got Silicon Valley Tech Broligarchy pulling the strings in this country. Wait until you get a good look at Trump’s Genesis Project. Yet, despite all these technical abilities, we can’t create a secure way to cast a ballot online. We have facial recognition on all smartphones or fingerprint recognition. What’s more secure than verifying identities?
The major excuse I always hear is that the public doesn’t trust it. Fine, they can go to the polls and cast a ballot. But, for the millions of people who do trust, we need an online option. Some countries have had that option for two decades.
If I can file my taxes online, why can’t we vote online?
Well Todd; we can do any and everything on line today but procreate. Banking on line is something I do NOT do thinking it was safer but somehow someone has hacked my Savings Account with their ATM card and made a withdrawal. I received my statement yesterday; my 30 year old car doors frozen shut, can only hope I can open them today to get to the back and put my situation into the Fraud Division.
Everything is computerized (my new toaster is computerized!!!) and all of it is stored in iCloud accounts and those who are intelligent enough to hack into iCloud can access anyone’s account and control it or destroy it…that would include voting on line which is now controlled by our current “leadership” and its Gestapo by simply changing district borders. Remember Edward Snowden who published thousands of government documents then fled to Russia for sanctuary? There is no way to safely vote today or to be assured our votes are counted. I lived in Florida for that infamous 2000 recount ordered by George W’s little brother Gov. Jeb Bush. The Internet provides some helpful conditions but is outnumbered by far by the damage and destruction it can to to all areas of our lives.
We are no safer here today than Europe’s Jews and other declared enemies of Hitler; Trump has made it global in his attacks and is getting away with multiple murders when he thought he could only get away with shooting someone on 5th Avenue.
Making Election Day a holiday… excellent idea.
What? and have a closer resemblance to a real Democracy? What about the 75,000 Johnsons that Rick Scott managed to kick off the roles, here in Florididia, leading to DeSludgeface becoming gov’r by 12,000 votes, that first time out?
I favor election exit polling to indicate when fraud may have occurred.
From AI:
“For example, analyses of the 2004 U.S. election noted a 6% divergence between exit polls and official results, which some interpreted as a red flag for fraud.
Still, many experts caution that exit polls alone cannot confirm fraud due to inherent sampling and methodological limitations.
As Warren Mitofsky, a pioneer of exit polling, noted, small-scale vote tampering would likely be undetectable due to these margins of error.
Therefore, while exit polls can serve as a deterrent and a signal for further inquiry, they are generally considered insufficient as legal or conclusive evidence of election fraud.”
I live in a reliably blue state (NY), have voted for 65 years, and have never been frustrated by the system ever telling me, no, you cannot vote.
Is there a connection between blue states and voting rights?
You betcha.
Due to severe arthritis in my hands, my signature no longer matches exactly to my registration signature. I can hardly hold a pen or pencil anymore. I am certainly not unique in that circumstance.
RESIST.
GREAT post,
Election Day holiday perfect.
JD, I have hands that shake. Sometimes it’s really bad and sometimes it’s not. When I go to the Neurologist before an election, I ask for a letter that explains how and why my signature doesn’t match. Ask your doctor for a letter that explains your arthritis and take it with you when you go to the polls.
As for the rest of the world, perhaps we can require that a graphoanalyst make any determination to invalidate a signature.
All in the name of voter fraud that barely exists
Great post – I couldn’t agree more, including your exception to the long line rule. I’ve worked the polls in Marion County for a number of years and a bad machine or two can create real delays, especially when you have long lines waiting at the 6 AM poll opening.