Lost in the endless fascination with Donald Trump’s presidential run are the serious flaws in the processes that determine how Americans exercise their voting rights. Much has been made of the fact that two of Trump’s children will be unable to vote for him in the
Lost in the endless fascination with Donald Trump’s presidential run are the serious flaws in the processes that determine how Americans exercise their voting rights. Much has been made of the fact that two of Trump’s children will be unable to vote for him in the New York Republican primaries, but the reality is that around the nation many millions of people are unable to vote in primaries, or in the general election, because of overt and covert actions by the states and officials charged with overseeing the voting process. In a further reversal for a country lauded as a democratic example to the world, voters in twenty-two states face even tougher voting procedures in 2016 than in 2012.
Election rules have long been prone to politicisation, but over the past decade this has become extreme, especially in states with Republican governors and legislatures. More states have passed laws pushing voters off electoral rolls than at any point since the Jim Crow era. More than fifty years after president Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, discrimination and flaws in the voting process have been shown to be deep and widespread.
The United States is one of only a handful of democracies whose constitution does not specifically deal with voting rights, and in practice this has meant there are no national rules for national elections. Enrolment, the provision and staffing of polling places, the design of the ballots, and the way votes are recorded and counted are all left to the states. Only some states allow independents to vote in Democrat and Republican primaries; some allow those who have been incarcerated to vote, others don’t.
Confusing and varying standards control which forms of identification are acceptable for registration and who can vote, and many states have made these requirements increasingly stringent. Voting always takes place on a work day, and a shortage of equipment and staff means that queues are often long. Early voting has become more widespread but there are often strict limitations on absentee and email voting. In some states people must come out to vote multiple times: committed New York voters, for instance, have presidential primaries on 19 April, federal primaries on 28 June, and state and local primaries on 13 September, all ahead of election day on 3 November. Small wonder that New York voter turnout is consistently among the lowest in the nation.
After the US civil war a