Citizens are only allowed to vote for officials and have little or no say at all on policies, laws, or actions pursued by the country.
In elections, the choice of candidates is limited, usually just two.
The number of officials elected is severely limited, diluting the influence of voters. For example, right now in the United States House we have one elected official for every 750,000 people. (The Constitution calls for a much lower ratio: one elected representative for every 30,000 people.) The bigger number dilutes the influence of voters.
Elected officials can gerrymander (determine boundaries for) political districts to include more their own supporters and fewer non-supporters—thereby almost guaranteeing officials their reelection, no matter what they do.
Sadly for us, the United States has all of the above traits. The conclusion is that right now the United States has very weak voting rights. Maybe better than China and Russia, but not by much. And we are certainly weaker than most all of our peer countries. Maybe it’s time to stop using the word “democracy” when describing the United States?