The American Election System Is a Broken Weapon Against Voters

By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News

October 16, 2025 | 0700 EDT

New York, NY — The U.S. election system is a chaotic, deliberately broken mess designed to disenfranchise millions and preserve the power of entrenched elites. Far from a neutral arbiter of democracy, it’s a battlefield rigged against average voters, especially those from marginalized communities. This is not incompetence — it’s strategy. The architects of voter suppression know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re not hiding it.

First, the fractured scheduling of elections makes participating a logistical nightmare. Elections are scattered across odd years, special elections pop up with little notice, and voting days are often on Tuesdays—workdays that exclude millions who can’t get time off (Brennan Center for Justice, 2022). Confusing ballot designs, inconsistent voter ID laws, and changes to polling locations last minute pile on the barriers (Hasen, 2020).

Second, voter suppression efforts have ramped up sharply since the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision gutted the Voting Rights Act’s protections. States have passed hundreds of laws restricting voting access, including cutting early voting days, purging voter rolls, and imposing strict ID requirements (Brennan Center for Justice, 2023). These policies disproportionately target Black, Latino, Indigenous, and young voters, who are more likely to support progressive candidates (Berman, 2020).

Third, gerrymandering remains an unholy pillar of the rigged system. Partisan mapmakers draw districts with laser precision to dilute opposition votes, entrench incumbents, and flip competitive districts into safe seats for their party (McGhee, 2014). This deliberate manipulation undermines representative democracy and turns many elections into foregone conclusions.

Fourth, misinformation and disinformation campaigns — often coordinated and well-funded — poison the public’s understanding and confidence in elections. Social media platforms amplify false claims, confuse voters, and depress turnout. Election officials are attacked and harassed, making administration harder and less transparent (Jamieson & Taussig, 2017).

Together, these tactics create a systemic chokehold on democracy, squeezing the life out of free and fair elections. The system is not broken by accident; it is engineered for exclusion. Politicians and power brokers who benefit from low turnout and voter confusion deliberately undermine the franchise to keep themselves and their allies in power.

But here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud: every barrier, every convoluted rule, every purged voter is a calculated strike against democracy itself. The fight to fix this requires exposing these truths relentlessly, demanding reforms like automatic voter registration, independent redistricting commissions, federal protections for voting rights, and making election day a national holiday (Brennan Center for Justice, 2022).

The people deserve an election system that empowers, not frustrates. Anything less is a betrayal of the promise of democracy — and the American people must be ready to call it out and fight for change with everything they’ve got.

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References

Berman, A. (2020). Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Brennan Center for Justice. (2022). The State of Voting Rights in 2022. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/state-voting-rights-2022

Brennan Center for Justice. (2023). Voting Laws Roundup: December 2023. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-december-2023

Hasen, R. L. (2020). Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy. Yale University Press.

Jamieson, K. H., & Taussig, N. (2017). Misunderstanding Trump. Oxford University Press.

McGhee, E. (2014). Partisan Gerrymandering and the Efficiency Gap. University of California, Berkeley.