Thread by @Pres_Bartlet

Someone asked me this morning "What's next?" and it got me thinking about what Democrats should do with their new control of the House of Representatives. The answer is clear: Voting rights. /1

Some have suggested restoring the VRA, but I honestly think the VRA may not address some of the issues that we have seen at the polls lately. So, instead, I propose the following reforms. /2

1. We need to reduce and ultimately eliminate long wait times at the polls. As such, Congress should require monitoring of wait times at half-hour intervals on a precinct level, and those wait times will be published and audited after the election. /3

If a precinct has more than one half-hour where wait times exceed 30 minutes or three half-hours where wait times exceed 20 minutes they will need to provide Congress with a plan to avoid those delays in the subsequent election. /4

If they have a similar violation the following election, they will have to increase staff and/or split precincts in order to reduce wait times for future elections. /5

Additionally, if a state is shown to have significantly longer wait times at minority-majority precincts then they will be required to take similar actions: increase staff, retrain poll workers and split precincts. /6

2. A precinct can move polling locations twice for federal elections in a ten year span. If additional moves are required due to an expected complication, Congressional approval will be required. /7

3. Require every population center above a certain size to have a voting center inside municipal limits with public transportation access.
4. If photo ID is required to vote, an location to obtain a valid photo ID must be available within X miles of every resident of the state /8

5. Prohibit any chief election official from overseeing a federal election where they are seeking higher office.
6. Prohibit any group or organization that distributes misinformation in election material from distributing election material in the next two federal elections. /9

7. Require paper auditing trail and an electronic receipt for all electronic voting.
8. Require electronic voting machines to be independently certified to be up to date on software & security requirements.
9. Allow any voter to opt for a non-electronic ballot if they choose. /10

I'm willing to hear other suggestions, and this is honestly just very basic, simple stuff we can do to improve elections that no one should object to, and those are the suggestions I'm looking for right now. /x