The United States has long been a symbol of democracy and freedom worldwide. But the mechanics of our democracy – the rules of how we vote and how elections are run – are much less admired. In fact, we are an outlier among democratic nations in many important areas, ranging from the absence of real controls on money in our politics to the self-serving roles of insiders in our election administration and redistricting. With carefully structured reform, we modernize U.S. democratic institutions for protection against the polarization that underlies hyper-partisan gridlock and conflict.