3 Reasons

1. Voter registration is out of control.
ACORN anyone? Here’s an alternative:

Voter registration using a state-based photo-id passport-style registered document with an embossed seal for each election.

Once registered with a verified residence as a citizen in any state, registration may only be transfer to another state, with no new registrations allowed, only transfers. Re-registering in any state, while registered in another is against federal law. Moving interstate requires you turn in your prior ID to your origin state prior to obtaining a new ID in your new state.

All votes must be traced to an election official who is liable for the validity of the vote.

When a vote is to be cast, each ballot is embossed sealed, as well as the voter’s ID document for the citizen who has voted. The district clerk will initial inside the seals, tying the ballot and the voter to the district official.

Fraudulent votes found in a district invalidates that entire district for the next election.

Absentee ballots require 2 seals – a designated remote official’s seal, ie military payroll officers etc. and a receipt seal from the election office who embosses the seal on the ballot and then initials at the designated place.
The remote official is to use their seal on the voter’s ID document.

A single optical paper ballot style is required nationwide.

2. Campaign finance is a nightmare.

Requires a financial participation of constituencies, and stop fraudulent financing.

Only registered voters may donate to valid campaigns and all funds are identified with the voter ID.
There is a donation limit on each voter registration ID.
When an ID limit is reached no more funds will be accepted.
That total is to be divided only among campaigns at any level.
City, state and national parties are treated as single generic campaigns for each party.

Your total electoral contributions may only be divided among those various campaigns, and the national campaign contribution portions cannot exceed more than 25% of the dedicated state portions.

3. Money = power & influence, and negates the idea of equality at the polls, because it weights the influence to ‘purchase’ more votes.

National official campaigns (President & VP) must reflect the state’s interest in the campaign, similar to the electoral count.
Individuals donate through state parties for national official campaigns.

National official campaign spending in any one state cannot exceed the amount of money donated from that state, and dedicated towards that purpose.

Political election, reform

2 reasons:

1. It deprives constituents of fully devoted representation
When officials take an oath of office, they are bound to fulfill that oath and dedicate their attention and activities on behalf of their constituency. By campaigning for any office other than for re-election, a politician’s time is spent away from and focused on something other than their present duties. It’s political adultery. If employers do not allow vital employees to work within the same field for another employer, because of inherent conflicts of interest, then why should politicians be exempt from this moral principle of responsibility?

2. It stops political springboarding
Given #1, constituencies may be seen as merely springboard positions to leverage into higher aspirations. For instance, it’s difficult to take Senator Barack Obama seriously as a fully dedicated Senator for the people of Illinois within his district with only 143 working days in office, and with many absent votes.

Legally, there is the question of fulfilling a fiduciary duty, when a politician wanders off to campaign for another office. However, if the office being campaigned for is reelection, then obviously, time spent exploring and discussing the relevant issues is in-line with the duties and responsibilities of the office, because the campaign process both informs the electorate and provides a means for feedback regarding their own concerns.

Political election, reform

Three reasons:

1. Exit polling is intimidating.
Anonymous voting frees you to vote your conscience. No one would like a gang outside a polling station ready to find out how you anonymously voted. What’s the point of anonymous voting if anyone is asking you how you voted, immediately after you did?

2. Exit polling is inaccurate.
Those declining to answer an exit poll cannot be shown to be more in favor of one candidate or the other. Yet exit polls must accurately reflect how all voted. Because of reason #1, it’s likely a percentage of exit poll results will be not be true. So it can potentially introduce a falsehood into the results. Results must be both logically and mathematically valid. Here’s an example – suppose you’re trying to solve an equation: x = 2+2. Suppose the first 2 is not really a “2″ but “1″. Do you think the result “x=4″ is going to be accurate?

3. Exit polling skews decisions.
Publishing exit polling results encourages a mob mentality – go along to get along. It encourages both intimidation and inaccuracies, making it possible to sway some portion of the electorate to vote based on immediate self-preservation reasons. Given the possibility it may skew the decision, it creates a feedback loop. Anyone who’s ever heard the high-pitched squeal when a live microphone comes near an amplified speaker that’s playing that input understands how a feedback loop is problematic.

At it’s least intrusive, exit polling is misleading, at it’s worst, it’s a potentially distorting device that should be eliminated.

Political elections, reform

Thoughout the day, I’ll be posting individual articles – one per idea on reforms that would need to be placed and why.

Political election, reform