Trump exposes weakness in our electoral system

Trump’s attempted coup has failed only because of dedicated, honest, hard-working election volunteers and state employees (including both Democratic and Republican elected officials) who put country over party.

We should also give a nod to the courts which demand proof of wrongdoing over unfounded lunatic rantings.

Trump and his minions have done us a favor by exposing weaknesses in our election system. Unfortunately, someone smart might be able to exploit those weaknesses in the future unless we act now.

We need national election standards for consistency. For example, mail-in ballots post-marked by Election Day must be counted. Mail-in ballots must have validation/verification similar to what is done in Hawaii. The U.S. Post Office must deliver mail-in ballots within three days of being postmarked (and have funding to accomplish this). In-person voting must be available with the same number of polling stations per 1,000 individuals in every county. Votes should be counted locally, and tallies transmitted via secure electronic means instead of transported.

We need to eliminate the antiquated, unnecessary electoral college system which isn’t required by the Constitution. We need gerrymander reform to keep politicians from choosing their voters and strong laws to keep presidents, their party or their minions from attempting to influence election officials. Election officials must be career civil servants or selected through a nonpartisan process. We need to get party-ofcontrol politics out of Supreme Court selections.

These and other reforms are needed before 2024 to prevent becoming just another authoritarian banana republic.

Kevin Bridges

Kahului