How to Make Sure Your Provisional Ballot Counts

And other voting traps to watch out for

Waiting in line outside the Clark County Election Department in Las Vegas. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Seventy percent of Americans think high voter turnout is good for our democracy. But that 70% doesn’t include many Republican politicians. Unless you’re old enough to remember the civil rights movement, there are more barriers to voting today than at any point in your lifetime. Nonwhite, lower-income, and young voters in particular have found their voting rights in the crosshairs. And we have the party of Donald Trump — and more important, of Mitch McConnell — to thank.

That doesn’t mean voting doesn’t matter. Quite the opposite: If “Team Mitch” targets your right to vote, that’s precisely because they’re scared you’ll use it. In fact, some politicians are so afraid of their own voters that they’re not just trying to keep you from participating. They’re trying to keep you from participating without you realizing it.

For my new book Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think, I talked to Marc Elias, one of the country’s top lawyers fighting for voting rights. Is there a chance, I asked him, that someone reading a book on protecting democracy had their vote discarded and didn’t know it? He didn’t hesitate.

“Absolutely.”