Voting should be ‘the easiest right to exercise,’ former Rep. Joe Cunningham writes
The past year has seen an unprecedented nationwide assault on voting rights.
From the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to the 33 voter suppression bills passed in 19 states, our democracy is as fragile as ever. All of these measures ultimately seek to limit the right to vote, particularly among Black voters.
The right to vote is central to our democracy. It is one of our most precious rights and should be the great equalizer; regardless of any other factors, at the ballot box, everyone has one equal vote.
It should be the easiest right to exercise.
Unfortunately, it rarely works that way. The U.S. already has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among the world’s democracies. In 2020, which saw record turnout in our country, only 66.2% of registered voters cast ballots - ranking us 24th out of 35 democracies for turnout.
Make no mistake: low turnout is by design.
South Carolina’s archaic electoral system exemplifies this perfectly. We have countless districts that are so gerrymandered they no longer have competitive general elections.
We’re one of only 15 states without no-excuse absentee voting. Here, 22% of our population does not have reliable internet access, yet we expect voters to go online, print out an application, then mail that application to their Board of Elections - simply to receive an absentee ballot.
We aren’t seeing Texas-style voter suppression bills here because it’s difficult to make our system more oppressive than it already is.
We’ve also witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented disinformation campaign intended to raise doubts about the integrity of our elections.
Convincing voters that elections are not fair takes away their reason to vote in the first place - and that’s the goal.
Few leaders honestly believe in widespread voter fraud because they know full well that the U.S. has some of the world’s most secure elections. But they know if they peddle this lie often enough and convince voters it’s true, then they have the potential to overturn legitimate elections when their side comes up short.
Fortunately, these issues have simple solutions: end partisan gerrymandering so elections are more competitive.
Modernize election laws to encourage higher voter turnout so it becomes inconvenient not to vote. Earlier this year, I released a plan to do just that.
My plan introduces automatic voter registration so every South Carolina resident is registered to vote on their 18th birthday. It establishes same-day voter registration, because voters who can prove they live at their address shouldn’t have to register in advance.
It implements no-excuse early voting, because voters shouldn’t need to tell the government why they’re voting before Election Day. It expands the types of identification acceptable for voting to include college IDs and electric bills.
It ends straight-ticket voting.
It ends Confederate Memorial Day and replaces it by making Election Day a state holiday, so more people can vote, volunteer, or work the polls.
Finally, it establishes a nonpartisan, independent commission to draw district lines, because politicians shouldn’t be able to pick their voters.
This fight will be tough.
Those who benefit from the current system won’t readily give up their power. But I’ve fought for this before and I’m ready to fight again. In Congress, I cosponsored the For the People Act to accomplish at the federal level much of what’s in my voting rights plan for South Carolina.
But we can’t wait for the federal government to act on this.
We need to implement these reforms in our state.
South Carolina is strongest when all our voices are heard. If our system isn’t designed to do that, then it’s time to change the system.
Former Democratic U.S. Congressman Joe Cunningham practices law in Charleston and is running for South Carolina Governor in 2022.
This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Voting should be ‘the easiest right to exercise,’ former Rep. Joe Cunningham writes."