In the British elections of 1831, the borough of Dunwich elected two members to the House of Commons. Funny thing, though: Over the centuries, Dunwich had pretty much been swallowed by the North Sea. So by the 1800s, the members were essentially chosen by two people. That's hardly democracy in action.

"Rotten boroughs" such as Dunwich were ended in the United Kingdom by the Great Reform Act of 1832. Perhaps it's time to end what's rotten in politics in the United States as well.

We pride ourselves on the American democracy established by ratification of the Constitution in 1788. But as great as that achievement was, the Founders left the job unfinished.

Most votes for members of Congress just don't matter nowadays. In 2019, the Supreme Court acknowledged that partisan gerrymandering may be "incompatible with democratic principles" but went on to hold that the federal courts ought not intervene anyway. In 2022, North Carolina elected seven Republicans and seven Democrats to the House. After gerrymandering, the result in 2024 was 10-4 in favor of Republicans. This gave the Republicans at least two seats more than the popular vote had warranted.

According to the nonpartisan organization FairVote, 84% of House seats in 2024 were decided by more than a 10% margin. As FairVote CEO Meredith Sumpter said, "Uncompetitive elections lead to unrepresentative outcomes, and to a Congress that is polarized and unproductive instead of one that accomplishes the people's work."

Sumpter was on to something. The current system leads to ideologues who are loyal to their party rather than the people they represent. The result is a democracy in name and promise but not in reality, a government that cannot govern with broad support or even agree on how to fund itself.

As we learned in high school civics, the American president is chosen by votes of the Electoral College, not by the votes of the people. In 2000 and 2016 respectively, George Bush and Donald Trump won a majority of the Electoral College but lost the popular vote. I'm not sure what you call that form of government, but it's not democracy, a word which comes from the ancient Greek for "rule by the people."

In the last three elections, the choice of president has been decided by only 15% of the total electorate: the voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Nevada. (In 2024, 94% of the general election campaign events took place in those states.) That left the rest of us with no real say in the contest. Voters in the other 43 states and the District of Columbia, over 130 million voters nationwide, cast ballots that could have been thrown in the trash for all the difference they made.

A poll taken this summer found 76% of Americans believe issues that divide them pose a serious threat to democracy. The Economist's Democracy Index ranks the U.S. 28th, behind countries such as Norway, Taiwan and Uruguay, and just one spot above Chile. Over half of college students believed their votes didn't matter in last year's election.

Of course, those students were right. The choice of who governs is shrinking to a few states and a few congressional districts. Our democracy is not quite as bad as pre-1832 Britain where it took only two people to select who filled two seats in the legislature, but it's getting close.

At least two things could be done to make America more democratic:

No. 1: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact offers a way to make every ballot matter. Under the agreement, states pledge to award all their electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote. In practice, that would ensure the Electoral College reflects the people's choice — even if the traditional state-by-state count pointed to a different outcome. So far, states representing 209 electoral votes have joined; 61 more are needed to reach the decisive 270. Congressional approval may also be required. Imagine if the compact had been in effect in 2024: Trump would have been competing for votes in Los Angeles, while Harris would have been working to boost turnout in Dallas. At last, every vote would count.

No. 2: As of April, seven states have set up independent redistricting commissions designed to give neither Republicans nor Democrats an unfair advantage in elections to the House of Representatives. But nationwide fairness cannot practically be mandated state by state. In August, the Texas state legislature redrew its congressional districts to increase the Republican party's advantage in the state by five seats. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California is urging his state to redraw its districts in response. This back-and-forth gerrymandering could be ended by Congress requiring nonpartisan redistricting commissions in all states that have more than one representative. The Constitution itself gives Congress the power to regulate "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections" for representatives.

Like the United Kingdom two centuries ago, the United States needs a Great Reform Act to rid itself of the rottenness eating away at its democracy.

The English poet and playwright William Thomas Moncrieff wrote in 1832: "REFORM or ruin — you must choose, Awake! Arouse!" I fear the United States faces a similar choice.

A renaissance man, Keith Raffel has served as the senior counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, started a successful internet software company and written five novels, which you can check out at keithraffel.com. He currently spends the academic year as a resident scholar at Harvard. To find out more about Keith and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at creators.com.

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