Trust in US democracy is at an all time low. Various sources argue that this is the product of years of misinformation by the leadership of the former administration led by Donald Trump. It is now up to Congress to help restore trust in American democracy. This article published by The Hill is written by opinion contributors David Levine and Maurice Turner. Here is an excerpt:
It may be unclear whether broad-reaching election integrity and voter access bills will ultimately be adopted but one thing is certain: Congress needs to help restore trust in our elections, especially after the Jan. 6 insurrection and recent state efforts to unduly restrict voter access. Voters should trust their election officials to administer elections impartially, and the restrictive changes being contemplated by many state legislators can only make those officials’ already challenging jobs even more difficult. As former election officials, we can attest to this problem firsthand.
One way to build on the successfully administered 2020 presidential election is to make the voting process more transparent. Nearly all local election jurisdictions now conduct elections using paper-based voting systems, and an increasing number are conducting post-election audits to confirm that the results are accurate as tabulated. To build on these measures and help address the lack of confidence across the nation in our elections, Congress should offer to provide the necessary funding to any states whose election officials wish to have secure live video feeds of their vote tabulation centers — where mail-in ballots are often received, verified, and counted.
Despite ample evidence that mail-in voting fraud is not widespread, a significant number of voters remain concerned that their votes will not be counted accurately if mailed-in, and many of these voters are especially concerned with the handling of mail-in ballots. Installing cameras in the rooms where ballots are sorted, verified, and counted would allow more people to watch the storage and processing of these ballots any time, day or night, which could lessen their fears about fraud and boost their confidence in these election processes.
Read the full story here. Also see our section on American Democracy or our articles on Voter Turnout, the Internet and Voting, Military Voting or just general Voter Access.
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