One of the big dividing lines in U.S. politics is between people who insist on making it as easy as possible to vote — even if that reduces ballot security — and those who want to ensure election integrity.

Mail-in and absentee ballots have expanded dramatically during Covid. Since then, some states have rolled back their use, but others are paying a steep price for not doing so.

“Zombie” votes are ballots cast for candidates who drop out before Election Day. They’ve created a growing problem because more Americans who vote early or by mail are voting for a candidate who later drops out or is hit by a serious scandal .

In the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, more than 3 million people cast votes for candidates who had withdrawn from the race. In 2024, 300,000 Republicans cast zombie votes as well.

These zombie votes can change election outcomes. In this week’s Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, socialist Francesca Hong lost by 4,000 votes to David Crowley. But the result was heavily influenced by 68,000 votes for candidates who were no longer in the race. A total of 38% of votes were cast early, and almost half of those were completed before the final candidate field was set. An election night screwup by officials in Milwaukee then delayed the reporting of absentee ballots for hours, prompting confusion and conspiracy theories.

The laws that require a form of voter ID in 36 states and limits on mail-in ballots would help mitigate that problem. But most blue states refuse to change their rules.

That is just another reason the SAVE America Act was passed by the House this year to insure election integrity. But every Senate Democrat voted against it. They prefer chaos to certainty in election results, for reasons we think can only be explained that they see an election advantage in the chaos created by poorly written rules.

You might say the person who votes against this common sense reform is a threat to democracy.