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Voting Reforms Needed: 7-Point Plan for the US

December 17th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Politics

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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