American democracy can’t survive without federal election reform

In the 2020 election, Democrats won control over Washington, but Republicans won big in the states. In a census year, this put Republicans in charge of redrawing a lot of congressional districts. Now a New York Times analysis has found that if the 2020 election were held today and everyone voted the same way, the Democrats’ majority of votes would no longer win them a majority of seats. The Republicans would lose the popular vote yet gain control of the House of Representatives anyway.

Both major parties have gerrymandered congressional districts. But Republicans have developed the state-level power, the fine-tuned skill, and the general audacity to do it to far greater effect. The 2022 midterms may well demonstrate what a truly undemocratic change of power looks like—and that’s in the House, easily the most democratic institution in the federal government. Both the Senate and the electoral college are beholden to the disproportionate power of smaller, more conservative states. The Democrats would be at a major disadvantage even if everyone played fair.

They don’t, of course. This year, 19 Republican-controlled states passed laws making it harder to vote. Many target early voting and absentee ballots, the focus of baseless accusations of fraud in the 2020 election. Four states have introduced or increased criminal penalties—to go along with the existing harassment—for things like handing out water to voters waiting in line or helping people with disabilities turn in their ballots. A sweeping new law in Texas specifically targets voter access initiatives that proved successful in Democratic Houston.