How to Reform the US Voting Process: A 7-Point Plan
Do we ever need serious electoral reform in the US (all those in parliamentary democracies can take a moment to laugh at us)! Here’s my reform platform:
Instant runoff voting
Allocation of presidential electoral votes proportionally in *all* states (Nebraska and Maine already do this)
Proportional representation in Congress and state legislatures including minority parties at a 5 percent threshold
De-marginalization of third parties (possibly through a parliamentary system)
Participation by all recognized party candidates in party debates
Removal of elections from the control of clearly partisan operatives such as the State Co- Chairs of one candidate’s campaign
[This actually happened both in Florida, 2000--Katherine Harris--and Ohio, 2004--Kenneth Blackwell. In both cases, the Secretary of State, in charge of the election, also happened to be the Bush state co-chair. In both cases, the question of who actually won that state will be forever under a cloud. and in both cases, the state was the crucial determinant of victory or defeat nationally. and in both cases, millions of people do not accept the "result" as valid--myself included--and therefore grant no legitimacy to the Bush II presidency.]
And don’t let us forget the most important: voter-verified paper ballots, screened on a first pass by an optical scanner machine for a preliminary count but then hand-counted under appropriate supervision and controlled conditions, in the presence of neutral observers, observers from each party (including third parties), and the media
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Completely right on, Shel! Some folks advocate the elimination of the Electoral College, I’m agnostic on that point - but I do agree that for now it should at least be taken down to the district-by-district level.
There’s one more thing I’d suggest: the Democratic and Republican parties need to be dismantled. One could make about four or five coherent and viable parties out of the two of them - that would be a great help towards making the present “third parties” (Greens, Libertarians, etc.) better able to compete.
Comment by smendler — December 17, 2007 @ 7:19 am
Great idea, Skip. It would be a lot easier to build cohesiveness in parties that weren’t trying to be all things to everyone and succeed only in being nothing to anyone.
Comment by Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert — December 30, 2007 @ 2:37 am
[...] written about this before; here’s my seven-point plan for US electoral reform, published in this space on December 17, [...]
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