The key part, as it was in Hitler's time just as it was in the original design of the American system way way way back when, is media
When media functions as a means for people to determine and communicate what's going on in the world and in government, voting can serve the people as a way to keep tyrants or bad actors in check and away from the levers of power
When media can be corrupted through sufficient exercise of power, those guard rails stop working, and all the democracy in the world can't stop someone powerful from taking over the levers and doing horrifying things with them
