America’s Voting System Is Underperforming

The administration of the 2020 election wasn’t the calamity some had feared. Warnings of armed violence and voter intimidation came to nothing. Polling sites were sufficiently staffed, the system coped with the Covid-related surge in mail-in ballots, and Election Day lines remained manageable even in historically underserved areas. With few exceptions, voting equipment functioned properly. In the most encouraging sign of the electorate’s resilience, turnout is expected to exceed 66% of eligible voters, the highest in more than a century.

Those achievements are certainly worth celebrating. Nonetheless, the protracted delays in releasing final tallies in contested battlegrounds are no mere inconvenience. At a time of heightened mistrust, they risk inflaming passions needlessly. In 2020, they’ve given the losing candidate an opening to claim he didn’t lose. Systems that are unimpeachably prompt and accurate are needed to maintain public confidence. Leaders of both parties have a mutual interest in improving them.