America Suffers from Electoral Dysfunction
It sounds counterintuitive to those of us who remember our history and civics lessons on American democracy, but U.S. voter registration lawsāfrom early registration deadlines to voter ID lawsāare some of the most restrictive in democratic nations and keep large portions of the eligible voting population out of the democratic process.
Victoria Bassetti, author of Electoral Dysfunction: A Survival Manual for American Voters (a companion book to an upcoming PBS documentary set to air in October), writes in The Washington Post that voters in most nations are allowed to register and cast ballots on Election Day and governments proactively seek out voters and continually update voter lists. But:
