I'd say democracy LEADS to Communism. Technically, democracy is rule of the minority by the majority (the famous "two wolves and a sheep debating what to have for lunch"), but of course corrupted elections bring governance by criminals. Which is basically what Communism is: EVERYTHING owned and run by "the government", which means by the small criminal clique in control of the levers of power.

The point of a REPUBLIC is that the people choose their elected officials (which stops happening when vote fraud becomes rampant) WITHIN the framework of a constitution that limits the powers of those elected officials to certain specific areas (although that last point isn't listed in most definitions, but without it you're right back to having a group in power that can do anything -- they can be voted out, but not when the elections are shams).

THIS is why ELECTION INTEGRITY IS A FEDERAL MATTER, as Article 4, Section 4 makes clear:

Section 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/full-text