Another Day, Another Plan from Elizabeth Warren

Today's policy paper from Elizabeth Warren: election security and voting rights.

The Democratic 2020 candidate who’s distinguished herself with near-daily plan releases dropped another one on Tuesday, detailing what she’d do to improve election security and expand voting rights. Under the Massachusetts senator’s plan, every state will get “state-of-the-art” voting equipment (every voting machine in the country will be replaced), and the entire nation will adopt uniform ballots.

Warren’s plan will also introduce sweeping changes to voting laws to make voting more convenient and accessible to everyone. Warren’s plan will:

• Ban gerrymandering
• Make Election Day a national holiday
• Enact automatic voter registration
• Allow same-day voter registration
• Ban voter roll purges
• Allow a minimum of 15 days of early voting
• Expand voting hours
• Allow voting with a sworn statement instead of ID

“Our elections should be as secure as Fort Knox. But instead, they’re less secure than your Amazon account,” Warren wrote in a blog post announcing her plan.

“Enough is enough. It is time to make high-quality voting in the greatest democracy in the world easy, convenient, and professional. It’s time to secure our elections from all threats, foreign and domestic. It’s time to address election security, administration problems, and voter suppression.”

Warren’s plan, while dramatically expanding voting rights, is also in direct response to Russian interference in the 2016 election, when the Kremlin attempted to humiliate Hillary Clinton to aid President Trump’s candidacy. Voting rights expansion usually assist Democrats. Warren’s plan will establish a new independent Secure Democracy Administration to replace the Election Assistance Commission. The agency will develop new security protocols for elections, which states will be forced to implement.

On top of that, Warren’s plan calls for the passing of the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which targets rampant voter suppression in the United States, as well as the Native American Voting Rights Act to “shut down a host of festering discriminatory practices,” according to Warren. To stop gerrymandering, Warren will require states to use independent redistricting commissions to draw federal congressional districts.

“Both parties should compete on a level playing field, not in a rigged game designed to suppress the will of the people,” Warren said.

The plan is part of a major push from 2020 Democrats to expand voting rights. Beto O’Rourke, for another example, introduced his own big voting rights proposal to increase voter registration by 50 million voters to raise turnout to 65% of eligible voters in 2024. Back in 2016, when Donald Trump was elected, that number was below 61%.

Warren has been gaining steam in recent 2020 polls after she initially got off to a rocky start with her campaign. Voters have responded well to her “I have a plan” strategy of introducing detailed policy proposals at a fast pace. She’s now consistently polling in third place — or even second — behind former veep Joe Biden.

She'll be one of 10 candidates on the stage in Miami Wednesday night for the first of the 2020 Democratic presidential debates.

Cover: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks at the Poor People's Moral Action Congress presidential forum in Washington, Monday, June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)