Dems need to run on MAJOR electoral reform in 2020
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Go belly up. Maybe someone like Biden who "comes clean" and walks the nation through addressing the "tricks of the trade" and comes up with realistic ways to mitigate the existing vulnerabilities of our our electoral system is being gamed ... kind of like David Toma coming to your school's auditorium to talk about the dangers of drugs.
I will likely still vote Dem no matter what (coming from someone who voted for Gary Johnson past two elections), but would wholeheartedly get behind an effort to clean up the system to transfer more power back to The People. Just saw this on twitter:
"Crazy how when a president dies America can instantly figure out how to shut down Congress, the federal government, the post office and the stock market, but can't figure out how to give people a day off from work in early November every two years to go vote."
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Def. High
Don't need it. Just have all
Don't need it. Just have all elections be mail-in or drop-off ballot only - no polls to go to.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: ogkb
or just make it a national
or just make it a national holiday. pretty simple.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Hitchhiker awaiting "true call"
Low income voters change
Low income voters change addresses too often.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 2 Room Shack
https://www.usatoday.com
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/07/republicans-voter-frau...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Sycamore Slough
They should give out free
They should give out free needles and speed for votes, maybe a Food-Box. Oh never mind, that's already there.
How about a lifetime subscription to TV Guide or a ShamWow !!
Those sort of super Deals would get me out there voting like Crazy, early and often. I mean, they already have Dead people and illegal aliens voting all over town, so why not throw in a "TV Guide" subscription and a few Airplane blankets ?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Alan R
This guy has some ideas:
This guy has some ideas:
I Served in Congress Longer Than Anyone. Here’s How to Fix It.
excerpts:
An electoral system based on full participation. At age 18, you are automatically registered to vote. No photo ID, no residency tests, no impediments of any kind. Advances in technology can make this happen effortlessly. Yes, voting should be restricted only to American citizens. Strict protections against foreign meddling are also necessary.
The elimination of money in campaigns. Period. Elections, like military service—each is an example of duty, honor, and service to country—should be publicly funded. Can you imagine if we needed to rely on wealthy donors to fund the military? I know there are those who genuinely believe in privatizing everything. They are called profiteers.
Public service should not be a commodity, and elected officials should not have to rent themselves out to the highest bidder in order to get into (or stay in) office. If you want to restore trust in government, remove the price tag. I am fully aware that the Supreme Court has declared that “money is speech.” That’s nonsense. The day my wallet starts talking to me, I might reconsider that view. Until then, I believe that the pernicious influence of money on our elections must be removed.
...The Electoral College has the same structural flaw...... abolish it. Twice in the past 18 years, we’ve seen the loser of the popular vote become president through the Electoral College formula, which gives that same disproportionate weight to small states, each of which gets two automatic votes for its two senators.
The protection of an independent press. This is where the Founding Fathers got it exactly right. Jefferson said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/john-dingell-how-resto...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: GravyTrain
Automatic registration
Automatic registration
Compulsory voting
Ranked selections
End Electoral College (why give rural states so much power?)
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
Oregon doesn't have
Oregon doesn't have "automatic registration" per se, but if you get a drivers license, you are automatically registered to vote unless you opt out. That, combined with drop off/mail in ballots, has resulted in some of the highest voter participation rates in the country.
>>>>Ranked selections
This. One of the biggest gripes people have about the modern political system in this country is the dominance of the two major parties. People who might be interested in other candidates are often scarred or shamed into voting for the lesser of two evils because of the so called spoiler effect.
With ranked selections and automatic runoffs, people get to vote for multiple candidates in order of preference. If their top preferred candidate doesn't make the top two, then their next vote down the line is counted. That way, one can vote for a third party candidate and not worry that they are "throwing away their vote" because they know that in the event that their first choice third party candidate doesn't make the top two, their back up vote for the lesser of two evils will kick in.
Maine has enacted rank choice voting so don't see why it couldn't work for the rest of the country.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Def. High
Why vote by state anyway? We
Why vote by state anyway? We're hiring someone to run the whole country. Standardize all voting procedures for Federal offices and then count up the votes nation-wide.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
>>>Standardize all voting
>>>Standardize all voting procedures for Federal offices and then count up the votes nation-wide.
>>>End Electoral College (why give rural states so much power?)
I think you would need to take that up with Alexander Hamilton and Federalist Paper No. 68. Because that system is embedded in the Constitution, it would require an amendment ratified by 3/4 of the states. I just don't see "fly over" country ceding much of their political power to large urban population centers like Los Angeles and New York City.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: jeff
Nice to see Disco Stu start
Nice to see Disco Stu start off his morning with racism and conspiracy theories. You in a bad mood because your dog turned you down again?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
Maine has enacted rank choice
Maine has enacted rank choice voting so don't see why it couldn't work for the rest of the country.<<<<
I agree about "instant runoff" / ranked choice voting being a great way to break up the party stranglehold and all it entails, but it looks like the it's currently being challenged in Maine:
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/12/05/federal-judge-hears-arguments-on-...
Poliquin and three voters from the state’s 2nd Congressional District are suing Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap over his implementation of the law, claiming the use of ranked-choice voting violates several sections of the U.S. Constitution because the document “sets a plurality vote as the qualification for election” to Congress. Poliquin’s attorneys are leaning heavily on a previous ruling by a federal appeals court in New York that determined elections that allow for a plurality winner are constitutional.
However, the U.S. Constitution does not mention plurality or ranked-choice voting, and several constitutional scholars said the lawsuit is not likely to prevail.
Walker, who was appointed to the court by President Trump, ruled against interrupting the ranked-choice retabulation process while it was happening last month, suggesting to many observers that he was not convinced there was a constitutionality problem.
[snip]
Gimpel broadly criticized ranked-choice voting and suggested that some 8,000 voters who did not designate second or third choices were disenfranchised because they had no way of guessing who the final two candidates would be when they cast their ballots.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
lol @ "disenfranchised
lol @ "disenfranchised because they had no way of guessing who the final two candidates would be when they cast their ballots"
It's hardly surprising to see this used as a "rationale" given the "lesser of two evils" mentality that has dominated the political landscape in recent times; whereas many voters mostly care about whether or not "their team" won. If this objection truly originated from a voter(s), it's kind of Stockholm Syndrome'd IMO, but I suspect it's more likely a product of party insiders seeking to retain a thumb on the scale.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Thomas O' Bagenhammers
"and comes up with realistic
"and comes up with realistic ways to mitigate the existing vulnerabilities of our our electoral system is being gamed"
So getting rid of things like vote harvesting I assume?
Please run Joe Biden. Please.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: jeff
Enemy of the people
Enemy of the people
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
So getting rid of things like
So getting rid of things like vote harvesting I assume?<<<<
Are you suggesting electoral reform is a partisan issue from the perspective of The People?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 2 Room Shack
The demographics for
The demographics for Republicans bodes poorly for the future. That's why the push to gerrymander, cheat and fraud. See north Carolina above.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
^ I agree ... although it
^ I agree ... although it doesn't have to be that way in terms of demographic for GOP, but they've chosen this road and have made their own bed.
The larger question is whether there's a "demographic neutral" position pertaining to electoral reform that exists; independent of how either party would stand to benefit?
I believe the answer is yes, but Thom seems to be alluding to reform being necessarily grounded in partisanship.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
https://apnews.com
https://apnews.com/646e23e07a3a4f63b26e6af8ef392e68?utm_source=Twitter&u...
^ judge tosses lawsuit in Maine re: ranked voting
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
Thom, is there any electoral
Thom, is there any electoral reform you find common ground with "liberals"?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: long live the dead
Thom. Do you see
Thom. Do you see vulnerabilities?
or gaming of the system? A Response written by yourself without referencing or quoting other sources would be appreciated
thanks in advance
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: MarkD
To the OP, Not gonna happen.
To the OP, Not gonna happen. They are bought by the same folks as the repubs. And those really in charge don't like the word reform.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
While I agree that it likely
While I agree that it likely won't happen, the optimist in me believes that maybe there's a "calculation" by someone in the establishment who's "electable" that embraces reform at the very least as a means to get elected; if not, because of a genuine belief.
You're absolutely right about those being in charge not liking the word reform, but who's to say the candidate couldn't pivot toward reform after winning the primary?
It's the issue that all American's would ultimately get be behind. Rhetorical and reflexive hyper-partisan denial on this core issue might be a barrier that needs to be overcome, but facts are stubborn & in time enough people will figure it out.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Hitchhiker awaiting "true call"
Should Pelosi mentor AOC?
Should Pelosi mentor AOC?