Electoral discrimination (ED) in democratic settings occurs when majority voters, influenced by their personal, cultural, or religious biases, favour majority candidates, consequently diminishing support for minority candidates. We discuss ED’s alignment with a normative ethics of voting grounded in office accountability, asking whether ED is compatible with the democratic mandate of voters. Our normative discussion shows that ED is compatible with the open terms of a voter’s mandate. We recognise, however, that there are empirically grounded reasons not to overlook the negative repercussions of ED for minority candidates’ political participation. We address these concerns by exploring how institutional design could mitigate the negative outcomes of ED, fostering critical reflection on the democratic electoral process