Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America

by Stacey Abrams

Our nation has struggled with real, universal suffrage from its earliest days; yet across this nation, dogged citizens have found ways to make democracy real for as many as possible. Whether through the action of state legislators and thoughtful governors or through citizen-led ballot initiatives that take the politics from politicians, we have a range of examples about what should be done to make our democracy work. In Oregon and Washington, voters and leaders aligned on a range of best practices, including automatic registration, same-day registration, no restrictive voter identification, and ballots mailed directly to voters (Washington State even sends voters a handy guide to the election). There, the ease of voting has not been marred by rampant fraud or corruption. Instead, both states have seen high levels of voter participation and turnout in recent elections. The United States must no longer be a patchwork of good, bad, and worst states for voters, a degradation of democracy based on state lines and zip codes. Being an eligible citizen should be sufficient for full participation, and we have multiple examples of what and how this can be accomplished. Change must begin at the federal level, where Congress establishes a bottom line for democracy rather than relegating the quality of access to the states. Political scientists and voting rights advocates know what works; and in the first act of the 116th Congress led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the signature legislation ...