The media’s vital role in safeguarding elections

On Tuesday, voters in Georgia went to cast their ballots in primary elections, but many of them found that they could not—or not without a long wait. Voters in the Atlanta area, in particular, faced huge lines and hours-long delays outside polling places; a disproportionate number of those voters were Black. As the day progressed, reports emerged about new voting machines that were malfunctioning or missing altogether. Public-health measures, instituted to prevent voters from spreading COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, exacerbated the delays. There were problems with mail-in ballots, too. Democratic politicians blamed the state’s Republican leadership for the mess; the...