THERE IS A global narrative that American democracy is in the midst of an existential crisis. Indeed, the events of January 6th on Capitol Hill were ample justification for both fans and foes of the US of A to have serious doubts and fears.
Donald Trump’s recent comment, which won him plaudits from his ardent admirers, to the effect that he would be a “dictator for a day” if he prevails in November is similarly worrying.
Looked at from another perspective, the seemingly unavoidable rematch of the elderly Trump and the even older and frailer incumbent, Joe Biden, has engendered further scepticism. There is a common question: Are these two men really the best 350 million people can come up with? It’s not an easy one to answer.
While criticism of politics and elections in the land of my birth has gotten louder and more warranted since the rise of Trump, it is not new. Don’t believe all the hype, though. The damning allegations are not entirely meritorious.
For instance, the Electoral College system has long been assailed from within and without. Above all, the fact that a candidate who receives a smaller number of votes than his opponent can become president provokes the ire of many observers.
Their consequent calls for the abolition of the Electoral College fly in the face of the constitutional design and the balance of power that was struck between state and federal governments. The US does not operate on the basis of raw majoritarianism. In this regard, and by virtue of its enormous size and extraordinary heterogeneity, the US is actually more comparable to the European Union than it is to the ordinary nation. It is appropriate, then, that a presidential election is not one contest; it is 51 (the 50 states plus Washington, DC).
Naysayers notwithstanding, the Electoral College is arguably the ideal means of picking a US president. Attacks on it would be better directed at the pernicious impact of the almighty dollar on the political system. Big money has pushed Republicans and Democrats to the extremes. Before their leaders, led by super-wealthy donors and abetted by unscrupulous profit-driven media outlets, moved hard right and left, there were lots more battleground states.
It may be objectively crazy, but if a huge country is going to have two political parties for all intents and purposes, they should be massive tents and appeal to a wide audience. They once were and they once did. Ronald Reagan won Massachusetts twice in the 1980s. Jimmy Carter won the south convincingly in 1976. That’s not ancient history, yet it’s unfathomable in 2024.
Of course, times have changed and there are other, complex factors at play. Nonetheless, that neither a Republican nor a Democrat has a hope of replicating their success today is a failure of politics, not the Electoral College.
The problem of voter suppression, especially when racial minorities are targeted, is increasingly cited as additional evidence that American democracy is irretrievably broken. It is important to affirm that it does exist. Lawyers and activists have exposed efforts to purge the rolls and registers, to disseminate false information, to move polling stations or alter opening times without notice, as well as the petty denial of water or snacks to those queuing to exercise their sacred right to have a say.
Where voter suppression is found to exist – ideally before it interferes with anyone’s rights or affects a result – it must be stamped out. The penalties for the perpetrators should be severe enough to have a deterrent effect. That said, the extent to which it is covered, in particular by foreign media organs, paints a distorted picture of how pervasive it is.
In this vein, some advocates regrettably push back against even light touch, common sense laws, such as requiring an individual to produce photo identification. They posit that having to do so is per se discriminatory and racist. That line of reasoning isn’t only patronising to the communities they purport to assist. It’s infantilising.
In this milieu, the crucial truth is obscured. It has never been easier to vote in America. It’s much, much easier than it is in Ireland.
According to the non-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures, 46 of the 50 states offer in-person early voting. Women and men can cast ballots in person at city or town halls or other designated places as many as seven weeks before the designated date of election. 20 days is the average advance period.
All states facilitate older people, those with disabilities and those who will be away from home on the scheduled election day to vote by absentee postal ballot. 35 permit all citizens who wish to vote by absentee ballot to request that one be posted to them. Some of these automatically send an absentee ballot to those who asked for one on a single occasion in all future elections.
It has been noted that absentee ballots allow the unengaged to do research before making their choices. Also, postal voting facilitates the broader participation of those who live in remote areas, don’t have access to transport or suffer from ill health.
Generally speaking, these democratic reforms continue to spread swiftly throughout the US. There surely will be too many Americans who still won’t vote on Tuesday, 5 November. That’s a shame, but opinion surveys demonstrate that apathy, not suppression, is behind it.
There will be images of large queues on that significant date. While viewers around the world will pity the plight of those who wait interminably, the vast majority will have no one except themselves to blame, as harsh as that may sound.
Many here draw incorrect, albeit understandable, conclusions from over-the-top articles in The Guardian with preposterous, clickbait headlines like “Why does America deny millions the vote?” They think voting has morphed from a right into a privilege in the US. How badly off the mark that perception is came into sharp focus for me personally this past week.
I remembered that someone I am close to has an early flight on Friday, 8 March, when we will render our verdicts on the proposed 39th and 40th Amendments to Bunreacht na hÉireann. She is, therefore, effectively disenfranchised.
Meanwhile, by scanning and emailing documents, I voted in an upcoming local referendum in Massachusetts and my home state’s Democratic presidential primary. The election official acknowledged receipt and promised to send me the April town election ballot as soon as it was printed. I haven’t lived there in two decades.
Yes, these are anecdotes. But they reflect how easy it typically is to vote in America and how difficult it can be in Ireland.
Larry Donnelly is a Boston lawyer, a Law Lecturer at the University of Galway and a political columnist with TheJournal.ie.
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