Dear Mr. President: “Fix that” - By Sandra Fluke

Twelve years after the 2000 Election crisis, dismal voting conditions continue. It's time for real reform

BY SANDRA FLUKE

Those of us who were still awake late into election night 2012 heard President Obama say, “I want to thank every American who participated in this election, whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time. By the way, we have to fix that.” If I could ask President Obama to do just one thing over the next four years, I would ask him to use his leadership to “fix that.”

Twelve years after the startling disarray of the 2000 election, in too many states dismally bad election administration has become the expected course. Hours-long lines, malfunctioning voting machines, and hopelessly confusing ballots are the headlines potential voters see. How can we expect that busy citizens will not be deterred from voting by the thought of such barriers? Every botched election and new barrier to voting causes even more citizens to completely disengage from their own governance.

This year, we saw thousands of our fellow citizens still wait in those endless lines, cast provisional ballots and file complaints when they were illegally denied the opportunity to vote. American citizens are literally fighting for their right to vote. Now it’s time that Congress and President Obama step to that fight.

This election season, the barriers to voting only grew worse as a multitude of states limited early voting and enacted voter ID laws designed to disenfranchise targeted communities of color, students and other groups. Since election night, we’ve learned of yet another threat to voting rights. The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging aspects of the Voting Rights Act, expected to result in a weakening of the Justice Department’s ability to protect voters from discriminatory election regulations. The case likely would not have been heard if Congress had headed the court’s call to update election legislation several years ago.

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