What changes in election laws would you make?

[Phatfish]

Open Question...

I was just wondering what you would do to make our national elections:

1) More fair to everyone (rich, poor, WASP, minority, young, old, etc.)

2) More secure

3) More convenient and accessible

and any other ideas on those nice, big noggins of yours....

[E_Zapata]

1. Abolish the electoral college

*

[Phatfish]

2. i understand the EC issue

I agree with you but lets get around that for the moment. Lets get some real solutions that will work for Presidential elections as well as Congressional and even statewide elections.

[ShimokitaJer]

3. Where to begin?

Full public funding of elections and elimination of all corporate donations

Strict balance of airtime granted to all participating parties

Debates open to candidates of any party

Electoral process not controlled by the two ruling parties

Elimination of electoral college, or at least requiring the proportional splitting of a state's electoral votes (a la Maine)

[kiahzero]

4. Condorcet Voting!

It's mathmatically head and shoulders above Plurality (the current voting system), and is far more secure from strategic voting than any of the other voting systems.

Condorcet would let us pick who we want to pick, rather than having to make pragmatic choices.

[ShimokitaJer]

6. If we're talking about alternate voting systems...

How about "approval voting"

Rather than choosing to give your one vote to a single candidate, you give an approval ranking to every candidate. It would eliminate candidates which a small majority approve of, but the rest can't stand.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

5. Public Financing

It's a must, IMO.

DTH

[fsbooks]

7. Preferential Voting

Similar to Australia -- see http://www.australianpolitics.com/voting/systems/preferential.shtml .

This is also known as the instant runoff method.

From the above website:

The main elements of the operation of preferential voting are as follows:

* voters are required to place the number "1" against the candidate of their choice, known as their "first preference."

* voters are then required to place the numbers "2", "3", etc., against the other candidates listed on the ballot paper in order of preference.

* the counting of first preference votes, also known as the "primary vote", takes place first. If no candidate secures an absolute majority of primary votes, then the candidate with the least number of votes is "eliminated" from the count.

* the ballot papers of the eliminated candidate are examined and re-allocated amongst the remaining candidates according to the number "2", or "second preference" votes.

* if no candidate has yet secured an absolute majority of the vote, then the next candidate with the least number of primary votes is eliminated. This preference allocation continues until there is a candidate with an absolute majority. Where a second preference is expressed for a candidate who has already been eliminated, the voter's third or subsequent preferences are used.

[LSdemocrat]

8. British style paper ballots

Sure it will slow down vote counts, but it's simple as hell.

Put a mark in the box next to your candidate's name.

[calimary]

9. If I were dictator, I'd be tempted to make it a federal crime

to vote republican. Just joking! (sort of...)

[FDRrocks]

14. LOL!

If I was a DICTATOR (like FDR was called), I would indeed make it a crime to vote for anything left of center.

The right represents the worst of humanity, they have proven this world wide, forver.

Liberals have it. We have it. We can change this world.

[Resistance Is Futile]

10. Ideal changes

Public funding for any and all parties which captures more than 3% of the vote.

Ban private donations to all parties which capture more than 3% of the vote.

Proportional representation.

Preferential voting.

Direct elections for the president.

Reallocate senate seats on the basis of state population. Handing disproportionate power to rural Freeperland does no one any favors.

Consitutionally require that districts be areas defined by no more than five straight sides. This is to reduce jerrymandering.

Term limits. Time marches on and the leadership must be replaced to reflect that. Throwbacks like Storm Thurmond had absolutely no place in this century.

Abolish off-year elections and alter election time cycles such that all seats the house and senate are up for election on alternate four year cycles. For example, president and all of congress would be up for election in 2004, then the president and all of the senate would be up for election in 2008. This arrangement aims to prevent any one party from seizing absolute power.

Verifiable ballots.

Crack down on electoral fraud and political interference. The time has long passed for people to be put in jail for playing games with the voter rolls.

Require voters to take a civics test before being allowed to vote.

Restrict the provision of non-vital government services to citizens who vote. Want a driver's license? Go vote first. (obviously resident aliens get a free pass on this.)

[Cocoa]

11. national holiday on election day n/t

[camero]

15. Now that is a good idea

I think alot of people don't vote because they are at work on election day and can't muster the energy after getting home and doing all the things that makes a home run.

Businesses should be closed on Election Day to give as many as possible the chance to vote.

[Clete]

12. Soooo many

I can't post them here. I am organizing my thoughts and a lot of science type math studies into something coherent (to me anyway) and I hope to post it sometimes before 2004

[FDRrocks]

13. Has to be a verifiable paper trail.

and the Electoral College needs to vote in exact proportion to thier constiuents.

Although in my world, the Electoral College would not exist, and instant-runoff voting would be how it is done.

[Clete]

16. I love the runoff voting idea.

It is perfect for a true democracy.

[zeemike]

17. One simple change

Would make all the difference
No one could win with less than 50% of the votes.

[juajen]

18. First, I would

place a fine on everyone not voting of $50.00 and dedicate this money to childcare for families who make less than a certain amount, to be determined by that state's average income. Only medical reasons that are validated would excuse people from this fine.

Secondly, as many will probably say, abolish the electoral college. It's outlived its usefulness.

Thirdly, all votes are requiredd to have a paper trail.

BTW, they have some kind of similar system in Australia (the fine for not voting). I believe that around 75 to 80 percent of their eligible votes actually vote. Anybody know exactly how they do that?