From voter ID laws to simple things like the day of the week that we vote on, a lot of our current voting practices are based on laws decided in the past. As we all know, the U.S. was at one point a highly religious and agrarian society; everything was based around the Sabbath and the harvest season. However, things have changed significantly since then. In the more than 240 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed, the United States has been through multiple technological revolutions, and the American people no longer take religion as seriously as they once used to. So if the times have changed, why haven’t our voting laws changed as well?
That exact answer is hard to pin down. Our voting laws have clearly changed since the days when only white, land-owning males were allowed to vote — today, everyone has the right to vote regardless of race, property, or gender. But those changes only dealt with who is allowed to vote, not when or how you can vote. So, I guess a better question would be, why haven’t the dates and rules behind elections changed? More than anything, it’s a lack of effort on the part of Congress to take action. (Wow, Congress not doing anything, there’s a shocker.) There have been many different proposals of how to improve the system from people all over the country, but they are regularly ignored by Congress.
One of the most popular proposals out there is either to move election day to a weekend or make it a federal holiday so employers are obligated to give people the day off to vote. In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with either of these proposals; however, the issue that people are trying to solve with either of these has already been solved. Everyone has the option to fill out an absentee ballot if they cannot get time off work, and there are numerous states that allow people to vote anywhere from 4 to 50 days prior to an election. Now, I know that you’re thinking, “I should be able to change my mind up until the day of the election!” And you would be right to say that; serving that need would be the only benefit of these proposals. But honestly, in my opinion, you should have your mind made up before then since these campaigns have been running for months on end.
The other major issue surrounding voting is voter ID laws. Many people view voter ID laws as nothing more than a racist attempt to bar minorities from voting. This could not be further from the truth. Insinuating that minorities are incapable of obtaining a government ID because of the color of their skin is actually racist. In reality, voter ID laws are there to prevent people from voting multiple times under the same name in different places, or under different names in the same place. This is to ensure accountability and keep the process fair, not to bar anyone from voting. It is not a tax, nor is it a test like the ones back in the early to mid-1900s meant to keep African Americans from voting.
Finally, we need to take a hard look at election security. Living in the digital age makes electronic voting extremely dangerous, as evidenced by the 2016 election. In my opinion, we need to return to all-paper ballots to ensure that there is as little interference in the election as possible. Elections are the keystone of our republic and should not be tampered with. Electronic voting presents the potential issue of hackers trying to adjust outcomes in their favor, not in favor of the American people. So all in all, it’s time to update the voting laws in this country and make them suitable for the modern age.
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