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

by Stacey Abrams

The third issue is how we reform the act of ballot counting and ballot rejection. Our lives have become increasingly complex, and our options for how we vote need to keep up with the times. Making every vote count will necessitate changing how ballots are cast and who gets to do so. Dozens of states have adopted versions of early voting, voting by mail, and improvements to Election Day voting. But rather than leaving it to states to decide to support voter access, federal law should mandate minimum standards for early voting, absentee ballots, and equipment for polling locations. States can do better, have more days, have longer hours, and have more locations, but we need to have a foundational set of rules that don’t change simply because voters change their state of residence. Similarly, we need a set of standards for how polling locations are staffed with both equipment and people. Debate rages about the best equipment for voting, in part because of issues related to hacking by either hostile foreign governments or domestic attackers who want to game the system. Equipment for voting can run the gamut from the purely analog approach of hand-marked paper ballots to an array of digital options. Until the federal government commits to both require and fund election security for all elections, or unless a state has demonstrated a high level of security consciousness, the best option is hand-marked paper ballots—with provisions made for those who require the accessibility of ...