I don't understand how people have cultivated this dogmatic belief that electoral procedures in the US are sacred rituals, about which any criticism is blasphemous. Our system was based off of the Roman Republic, and even the Romans knew their own system was easily exploited. Look at legislation like the Lex Maria, wherein the voting bridges were narrowed. When Romans moved to casting the secret ballot, they used to cross bridges to get to the ballot box, upon which crowds would congregate and physically intimidate voters into changing their vote. Gaius Marius championed legislation that would narrow these bridges and disallow congregations of such a nature. I only cite this as one example of electoral exploitation that ancient Romans were aware of. If they could acknowledge the flaws in their system, why can't we do the same thing?