To the editor:

The presidential election of 2016 and the midterm elections of 2018 have boldly underlined America’s No. 1 issue: Voting. If we do not fix voting, we will not be able to fix anything else.

There is not, and probably never has been, any such thing as every citizen having a vote. It’s a myth. It should also be a goal, the goal, if we still want a representative government.

Broadly, the electoral college system needs to be overhauled and made consistent from state to state. Senate representation heavily favors states with small populations and needs to be reconsidered. Party affiliations should be banned from consideration in redistricting. How campaigns and elections are paid for is obscene and needs to be fixed. Voting must be readily available to all citizens; voter suppression and fraud should both be criminal offenses.

And every vote must be counted.

It’s a tall order but it is what we need to do.

Gloria E. Garber

Naples