America at 250: It’s time to bring the ballot home

(TriceEdneyNewswire) – Americans aren’t just anxious about next year’s elections – they’re uneasy in a deeper way. In 2025, voters across the political spectrum worry that our country is one overheated news cycle away from political violence. At the same time, election officials are sounding alarms about something quieter but just as dangerous: there simply aren’t enough poll workers available to run our elections safely. Related Stories After years of threats, harassment, and burnout, thousands have walked away. The people who keep democracy functioning are exhausted, and the voters they serve are fearful. On the eve of our nation’s 250th birthday, we are heading toward an election cycle with a system that feels overstretched and overstressed. Moments like this should force us to remember what earlier generations did when democracy came under strain. In the fall of 1918, as the Spanish flu tore through Chicago, hospitals overflowed and neighborhoods fell under quarantine. Yet the city refused to let democracy collapse. Officials rushed paper ballots to residents’ homes. Nurses carried ballots to the sick; clerks delivered them to families behind closed doors. It was improvised and imperfect – but it worked. Chicago proved something we need to remember now: when the...