There are other equally anti-democratic features of the US electoral system, including, of course, the Electoral College, which made it possible for Trump to win the presidency although he trailed his Democratic opponent by three million votes overall. Voter ID laws enacted in two dozen states contributed significantly to Trump's victory by disproportionately affecting pro-Democratic Party demographics, including elderly African-American voters and college students.
On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court heard arguments over partisan gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts, the notorious practice under which Republican or Democratic state governments -- both parties are guilty, although the Republicans are currently more successful -- draw electoral boundaries that make their legislative majorities virtually invulnerable to shifts in popular sentiment.
In the Wisconsin case heard by the court, Republicans drew state legislative maps so that large Democratic majorities were concentrated in a few districts, while smaller but secure Republican majorities were spread over more districts. With 48 percent of the vote, Republican candidates won 60 percent of the seats. "The result is preordained in most of the districts," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg observed at one point, going on to ask, "What becomes of the precious right to vote?"
The answer to the justice is straightforward: The right to vote in America is entirely subordinated to the interests of the capitalist ruling elite.
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