with fears of hacking of voting machines, voter suppression, gerrymandering, foreign influence in elections, etc does the executive branch have any powers to expand voter rights without having to pass new laws? either due to executive powers, or due to laws that were passed in the past that are still active?
A Presidential administration could initiate a policy of more actively pursuing civil rights violations that effect voting.
In the US, there is no national election system. Elections are all handled by states. The Executive Branch of the US government really has no direct leverage.
This. The Department of Justice could be much more aggressive about enforcing the provisions of the Voting Rights Act. While the Supreme Court effectively struck down the “pre-clearance” requirements in Shelby County v. Holder, all of the voting rights requirements in the act remain in place and could be much more vigorously enforced by DOJ.
The Department of Justice should be challenging the Supreme Court on this. The Fifteenth Amendment made voting a Constitutional right in 1870. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 said Congress had the power to enforce voting rights. And then five Supreme Court Justices (the five appointed by Republicans) overturned the law in 2013.
Progressives should be talking about the Fifteenth Amendment the way that conservatives talk about the Second Amendment. And they should be denouncing the Shelby decision the way conservatives denounce the Roe decision. Conservative judges should not be allowed to legislate from the court without being called for judicial activism.
People should be made aware that not letting people vote is what the Republicans mean when they talk about appointing conservative judges.