Voting Reforms Needed: 7-Point Plan for the US
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.
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.
Principled Profit » Dave Barry on the US Primary System // Feb 11, 2008 at 7:20 pm
[...] written about this before; here’s my seven-point plan for US electoral reform, published in this space on December 17, [...]