Electoral Reform - My top 10 suggestions. From a Canadian

[NicColt]

There is a good side to this, you can mark my words that this will not happen in 2004.
I truly hope that you my American friends have learned your lesson and will have some Electoral reform.

Why not...

1. have a unique and separate ballot with the same format for the presidency across the country. (except for the visually impaired).

2. have the unique presidency ballot legally approved before voting day.

3. have a pre-vote for those who won't or can't vote on election day sealed and opened on voting day, abolish the absentee vote and have the pre-vote already counted before the pools even close.

4. have the same vote counting equipment with a backup unit across the country for the presidency ballot.

5. have a neutral County and State Electoral representative supervise, finalize, confirm and certify the vote count in each county and make that count instantly legally binding.

6. have the county release the vote count for the districts.

7. have the state, once in receipt of the official count legally binding and not open to a recount.

8. have the news media estimate a winner if the count holds and not have them "declare" the winner like CNN did.

9. have every state electoral office ultimately responsible to confirm the final count for the state and officially certify the winner of that state without any outside interference of any kind.

10. prevent either party to make any statements or remarks until each and every state has certified the vote-count. A party would not be expected nor required to concede before the official count from all states.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Good ideas save for the elimination of the absentee ballot. There are those of us in college who would not have the ability to "pre-vote" unless they let us "pre-vote" in August. I refuse to register as a Pittsburgh voter (which I can do after being here for 30 days or more) because I do not "live" in Pittsburgh. I live in a small town near Toledo, Ohio and will be going back there when I finish college, I know more about the politicians from my Ohio district and they have a greater impact on my life. The "pre-vote" is not a viable option for people like me, and if the absentee ballot is abolished, I would have no choice other than to drive the four hours (250 miles) back to Ohio to vote because voting in August is ludicrous. Finally, the electoral college has worked fine for 213 years and will likey continue to do so for a long time. You cannot compare the American system to any other system in the world, to do so is to ignore the uniqueness of the American psyche. Your ideas are good but unfortuantely impracticable.

Aaron Meyer

 

[Michael]

I think that you can have different people on the ballot for President depending on what state you live in. Not all candidates meet the rules for listing on a national scale.

Michael (a Canadian living in the US)

ps - I fully respect the rights and ability of US citizens to determine the correct course of action for their country and their voting system. I hestitate to give unsolicited advice to a country that has more than shown that it is capable of ruling by law and protecting the democratic rights of its citizens.

 

[Isla]

Some good ideas there... Really, the best thing about all this is that FINALLY there will be some changes.... and if not, well, shame on us.

 

[denali]

Well the main problem is that each state determines who can be on the ballot for President, and the type of ballot/means of counting. Each state also decides when it's registered voters can vote. In Colorado, where I live, we could vote early and 25% did.

I don't see how you could get rid of absentee ballots, this would deprive citizens who are out of the country to vote. My sister has been out of the country for over a year and without the absentee ballot she would not have been able to vote.

I do hope that we will set national standard for the way we vote, about 40% of all votes were cast using technology that was invented in the late 1800s. It is known to be frought with problems and errors, but since each state/county is responsible for providing the means to vote some don't want to spend any money to udate how they vote.

One thing that I hope will happen is that no media outlet is able to comment on any results untill all polling places have closed. What has been largely overlooked is that all the major networks projected Gore the winner of Florida before all the polls in Florida were closed.

I think we also need to look at limiting the time that people are allowed to campaign like in the UK. I'm sure that within a year someone will already start running for President. We also need to get rid of the $1000 limit that an individual can give to a canidate. Steve Forbes never would have run for President if he could have given say 60 million to Jack Kemp to run in 1996.

 

[Buddha Bart]

Overall good ideas, but a few have free-speach implications that ensure they'd never fly.

bart

 

[NicColt]

thank you for your responses.

 

[The Wildcard]

nice suggestion but it'll take this country another 200 years to pass those changes.