As Americans, we pride ourselves on our democratic system of government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” But in an era of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and disinformation campaigns, we must take stronger action to safeguard this sacred right and duty.

The integrity of our elections is the bedrock that our republic is built upon. Without faith that our votes are counted properly and our voices heard fairly, the entire system breaks down. That’s why all citizens should be concerned about the vulnerabilities in our current patchwork of voting processes and infrastructure.

In 2016 and again in 2020, we saw concerted attempts by foreign adversaries like Russia to meddle in our elections through hacking, social media disinformation, and more. While the full impact of these efforts is still debated, it highlighted glaring weaknesses in our cyber defenses and the need to invest in major upgrades.

At the same time, Republicans and Democrats alike have raised concerns about potential avenues for fraud like outdated voter rolls, insecure absentee ballots, and more. Lack of uniform national standards opens the door for inconsistencies and improprieties, real or perceived.

To be clear, there is no evidence of widespread fraud that would have overturned any recent presidential election outcomes. But even isolated irregularities undermine public confidence in the system as a whole. We should be continuously raising the bar, not resting on platitudes about how “our democracy is working.”

Some key areas for improvement include:

  • Mandating rigorous voter ID requirements with options for free verifiable IDs
  • Automating voter roll data synchronization and accuracy audits across all states
  • Implementing mandatory nationwide cyber security standards and risk-limiting audits for voter databases, machines, and tabulation systems
  • Tightening chain of custody procedures to prevent illicit ballot mishandling, tampering, or destruction
  • Restricting and carefully vetting absentee/mail-in ballots while ensuring equal access for all

These are just common-sense safeguards that we should all embrace to preserve electoral integrity. Other democracies like Canada, Sweden and France already have many of these best practices.

Yes, administering elections is complex with thousands of voting jurisdictions involved. But we’re America – we put a man on the moon. We can afford to invest in protecting the sacred voting process that many have died to preserve.

Those who oppose such reforms by crying “voter suppression” are misguided at best. Making it harder for foreign powers or domestic grifters to wage information warfare is not suppression, it’s legitimately defending our democracy.

So to my fellow Americans, regardless of party: let’s show the world how a true democracy walks the walk, not just talks the talk. Join me in demanding verifiable, state-of-the-art voting systems we can all have faith in.