While voter apathy is a big problem, it is likely that voter suppression targeted at the tie breaking areas has more of an effect on the overall outcomes. Suppression includes duscouraging engagement, leading to apathy.

And Congress could have done something about it when Democrats had the majority in both houses. In one hand, they had the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and in the other, they had the continued preservation of the Jim Crow Filibuster.

Democrats chose to keep the filibuster.