Problem Scope
The American two-party system creates incentives to rig the rules of elections and reduce competition. Additionally, many states work to put barriers in the way of voting. These barriers are often justified by invoking concerns about voter fraud. While these fraud claims are typically overblown, election security is a concern that deserves constant vigilance. Finally, the electoral college and other structural factors can lead to imbalanced representation in Congress.
In short, the flaws in our electoral system are largely captured by these four categories:
Gerrymandering and Other Anti-Competitive Rules
Voter Suppression
Election Security
Electoral College and Other Structural Factors
Contributors: George Linzer, Michael Deal, Kyle Mullins
Reviewed by: Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress
Published: December 5, 2019
Updated: March 15, 2021; March 5, 2020
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The right to vote in America is a fundamental democratic liberty – it is one of those rights that we fight wars to defend. Yet, when the nation was founded, voting was almost exclusively reserved for propertied white men. Since then, voting rights have slowly grown more inclusive, expanding to an ever broader cross-section of the American public, but this progress has almost always been hard won.
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