Today, amid coronavirus fears and disruption, voters go to the polls in Michigan and Washington. The first primaries have exposed unnerving weakness in electoral systems. For many voters Tuesday was far from super. It all raises fears of a crash-and-burn crisis in November.

The season began with the Iowa fiasco, showing the risks of ill-conceived technology. Then last week, California and Texas voters faced excruciatingly long wait times at the polls, with many standing for three to seven hours. As my colleagues Larry Norden and Gowri Ramachandran argue in the Los Angeles Times, election officials must act now to prepare for a likely record turnout.

Then there’s the toxic role of big money in politics. Michael Bloomberg’s campaign reminds us that money isn’t everything. But big money — whether supplied by the candidate, super PACs, or dark money groups — can decide who wins congressional, state, and local races, according to the Brennan Center's Chisun Lee and Dan Weiner in the Washington Post. As they note, Congress has begun to act: H.R. 1, a comprehensive democracy reform including small donor public financing, passed the House last year.

Finally, there are problems harder to detect and neutralize. Last week, affiliated scholar Young Mie Kim published a report revealing just how Russia is interfering in this election. As in 2016, the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency has created accounts pretending to be individual Americans, political groups, and candidates, targeting both the left and right. To counteract Russian disinformation campaigns, Kim argues that a “comprehensive digital campaign policy framework must be considered to ensure the integrity of election campaigns.” None exists yet.

My colleagues Wendy Weiser and Dan Weiner sum up these and other worries while noting how H.R. 1 would help solve these issues and revitalize our democracy. The Brennan Center will continue to work to make sure the 2020 election is free, fair, and secure.