An election system that puts voters not politicians first Amber McReynolds
Transcriber:
Voting can be hard.
It’s been hard,
sometimes painful, sometimes impossible,
since the very beginning of our democracy.
This year and years prior,
we’ve seen voters wait in line
for five, six and seven hours.
And the issue hasn’t been fixed.
Now, some people may see these images
and think, “How patriotic.
How impressive that someone would
wait in line for seven hours
just to vote.”
But to me, it’s not impressive at all.
It’s disrespectful to these voters.
Making voting difficult goes against
the very core of our democracy.
If we could redesign the system
to make it more convenient,
more accessible and easier
for voters, why wouldn’t we?
Now, the short answer is: political will.
Many established politicians
would not actually benefit personally
from a reformed voting process
that’s inclusive for all voters.
Politicians are the players in the game,
but yet they set the rules for the game.
Election policy must be about
who votes, not who wins.
And the more complicated answer
is that our voting system
and election system in the United States
is highly decentralized and inconsistent.
Over 10,000 different local election
officials administer this process
in cities and towns and counties
across the country.
They might vary in size
from 400 voters to 4.7 million.
There’s also 50 different
state legislative bodies
that set the rules of the game,
and over 50 different
chief election officials and entities
that oversee those rules
and how they’re administered.
So voting may vary greatly
from state to state.
Best-case scenario,
you’re in a state like Colorado,
and a ballot is mailed to you proactively
before each and every election.
No bureaucracy,
no extra paperwork.
The ballot comes,
and the government is responsible
for delivering democracy to you.
Worst-case scenario,
you’re in a state like Missouri,
where your options are limited,
you have overly restrictive
voter registration deadlines.
And if you can’t get off work
or you don’t have childcare
or you’re sick,
that’s too bad.
And most American voters
don’t fall into the best-case scenario.
Now, in my career as an elections
official for many years,
and now leading the National
Vote at Home Institute
and our work to improve the voting process
across the United States,
I’ve talked to thousands of voters
about their voting experience
and thousands of election officials
about the process.
I also coauthored a book
called “When Women Vote,”
that outlines a road map and a playbook
for how to improve the process for all.
And so I ask you:
What would you choose?
Which scenario would you choose?
Now, the 2016 election
was the most highly watched,
most anticipated election in US history.
And yet,
only 60 percent of eligible Americans
actually voted.
Over 100 million people
did not vote in 2016.
And when they were surveyed as to why,
over 40 percent indicated
it was due to a barrier:
missing a deadline,
couldn’t get off work,
couldn’t wait in line for hours.
If “did not vote” was
on the ballot in 2016,
“did not vote” would have won
in a landslide.
What we end up with is a system
where a minority of eligible Americans
are choosing the politicians that make
decisions for all of us collectively.
Trust in the US government
and politicians is at an all-time low,
and the ballot box isn’t helping.
If we can’t even cast a vote easily,
why would we ever trust the process
or trust politicians?
We must put voters first.
I’ll say that again.
We must put voters first
in election policies
and designing a system that serves them.
Just ask any successful business.
We live in an era
of same-day shipping, free delivery,
Lyft and Uber
and take-home cocktails.
And consumers,
especially in the height of the pandemic,
are choosing their experiences
in the comfort of their home
and on their schedules.
So why can’t we design a voting process
that is as convenient as that?
Luckily, we don’t have to speculate.
In Colorado, we’ve already
designed that process,
and Colorado is now
one of the best states to vote in
and also one of the most secure.
In 2013, I worked with a group
of dedicated leaders
to redesign our voting process
and pass legislation
that put voters first.
In Colorado,
every voter receives a ballot
ahead of each election.
They’re automatically registered to vote.
There’s no overly restrictive deadlines.
And with BallotTRACE,
voters can track their ballot
just like they would a package,
through the process,
from the moment it’s mailed
to the moment the election official
receives it for counting.
That system was pioneered
in Denver now 11 years ago.
And when we designed it,
we were able to reduce
our call volume by 70 percent
and infuse transparency
and accountability into the process.
Now, when you get that ballot at home,
you can vote it and then mail it back in
or drop it off in person.
And if you want to vote in person,
you can do that, too.
And you’re not confined
to the government-assigned polling places
on one day.
You can go to any vote center –
close to your kids' school,
close to work, close to home –
and you can do so over a few weeks
prior to the election.
It’s been seven years
since we passed that legislation
and implemented that model.
And the results are incredible.
Colorado increased turnout significantly
and now is one of the top states
for voter turnout
and also one of the most secure.
We also saw a reduction in costs.
So, because more people
were voting at home,
we didn’t need as many poll workers,
and we saw that reduce by over 70 percent.
When we went to buy a new voting system,
we no longer needed as much equipment.
We also saw voters go farther
down the ballot,
to local races and ballot issues.
And we saw turnout increase
on those down-ballot races and issues.
Those races include mayor
and school board and city council.
And they also include the really long
legalese ballot issues
that take forever to figure out.
Voters now have a laptop
in reach at their home,
and they can research candidates
and issues on their own time.
We also have research now that shows
that voting by mail and voting at home
makes voters more informed
because they have all of that extra time,
as opposed to being in person
and worrying about
the long line of voters behind you
while you’re trying to rush through.
And the final, most important aspect
of the results that we’ve seen
out of Colorado
is about civics for future voters.
And I want to share my story
with my two elementary children.
Every time my ballot comes
before each election,
one of my kids gets it,
and they always start asking,
“When are we going to fill out
mom’s ballot?”
We sit down together,
they read the instructions to me,
they read the candidate names,
and they ask me questions like,
“Mom, what does governor do?
What does the mayor do?
Maybe I want to be a mayor someday.”
We research those issues together,
we talk about it,
and it takes me forever
to complete my ballot.
But I know that I have created
lifelong, civically engaged voters
and future voters that understand
that the choices they make on that ballot
impact their communities and their world.
This is the type of voting experience
that we want for every voter
across the country.
Many other states have taken notice,
including California, Vermont,
New Jersey, Hawaii.
All have expanded options
for voting at home this year, in 2020.
Americans are resilient.
We need a voting process
that is also resilient –
from a pandemic,
from burdens and barriers,
from inequities, from unfairness,
from foreign adversaries
and from administrative deficiencies.
Across the country, voters are choosing
to vote at home in record numbers.
It is safe,
it is secure,
and we have built-in security measures
to deter and detect bad actors
who try to interfere with the process.
Today, voting at home means paper ballots,
but in the future,
that might look very different.
Voters deserve an awesome and safe
voting experience,
free from barriers and burdens.
It’s the politicians that serve us,
not the other way around.
You deserve excellence.
Expect it, demand it and advocate for it.
Thank you.