The entire system was designed around landowners being the only voters. So that meant only rich white men. Who had the time, personal desire, and societal expectation to stay current on social changes and the economy. They also had every reason to vote whenever possible. The core electoral system is based around these expectations and has had very few changes since it was created.

As voting rights were extended to more groups, the built-in structure of the system wasn’t updated. The rich landowners have every reason to vote, and the free time to do so and travel if needed. The system relies on an educated voting populace, which was already an expectation of those that were allowed to vote.

Modern Republicans have used those built in structural expectations to their advantage. And since lower turnout tends to go their way, they try to force that however they can, and regularly have courts throw their egregious shit out. So for decades now they have focused on replacing judges with sycophants in every state and federal opening they can. If those judges won’t throw out the bullshit, then they can do what they want.