During an episode of Game of Thrones, the idea of democracy was pitched rather than the monarchy system they have in their universe. While watching I was nodding my head and snapping during the whole pitch of democracy. Why should the few determine who lead the majority? Why shouldn't everyone get a say? After the pitch, the audio went silent and I was expecting them to agree, but they all just laugh.
At first, I was taken aback, but then it made me think about how ineffective democracy is.
Like most things in life, democracy is simply just better on paper than it is in practice. Human nature is not always innately good and people can and will take advantage of the system in place. Interference with voting is one of the biggest reasons why democracy is ineffective. States can change their voter laws. These laws prevent people from voting by making voting an inconvenience for them.
One way states suppress votes is through making registration difficult. Unlike other democracies around the world, it is the voter's responsibility to register to vote in the United States, which leads to many people not voting at all. Many Americans don't register to vote since they have no intention to vote or registering to vote is inconvenient.
One way voters are suppressed through registration is through voter identification laws. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, eleven percent of American citizens do not have an ID. Most of those without IDs are African American, Latino, elderly, or low-income individuals. This poses a huge problem to our elections since the results are not an actual depiction of what the public wants. Other countries such as Australia and Canada have their residents automatically registered to vote which increases their voter turnout. Australia and Canada have substantially higher voter rates than the United States.