Posted by Snowie on November 12, 2000, at 21:10:14
In reply to Some tips for a fair future national election, posted by Sunnely on November 12, 2000, at 15:17:14
See my responses after Sunnely's.
> 1. Electoral college.
>
> Don't end it but mend it. EC was included in the Constitution by our founding fathers in the name of fairness. If EC is scrapped and the winner is based on majority votes garnered, most if not all of the attention will be grabbed by the big states. Major political parties will see to it that their presidential candidates hail from either California, New York, or Texas. If a presidential candidate is from CA, it is no brainer that he will pick for his VP someone from either NY or TX. This may lead to the polarization of the country. Smaller states may end up uniting to fight against the candidate of the big states.I'm not entirely persuaded by your reasoning here. Our forefather's weren't interested in fairness; they were afraid of the power of an unenlightened people to directly elect the President of the United States. As seen in this election, candidates don't always win their home states. Also, you still have polarization with the Electoral College, but with the Electoral College winner takes all. With the popular vote, every vote counts. We will always have some states that swing slightly either Republican or Democrat (depending upon the candidates), and other states that vote predominantly one party or the other. However, as it now stands, it's almost futile for a resident of a partisan state to even vote for the minority party, and it leads to apathy when people feel their votes don't count. Besides, isn't allowing the collective people the right to choose what democracy is supposedly all about?
That having been said, I would be interested in any opinions as to how we could mend the Electoral College.
> 2. Introduce and pass the Campaign Finance Reform bill.
>
> Hopefully, this will stop those special interests with big bucks from "buying" the election. May be elected officials won't feel so beholden to any of them and will turn their attention to the less fortunate people who really need it.Total agreement here, but I doubt that will change much since the stakes are so high. Also, how could we as a nation police the parties? It might stop some of the television ads, but not necessarily the buying of votes, the leakage of information, intimidation at polls, etc. Everyone seems to know that these things exist, but nothing is done.
> 3. Ban the media and other national pollsters from polling at least 1 week before an election.
>
> I know that this may infringe against the First Amendment. On the other hand, polling only invites more confusion and discourages voter from participating in the election. Furthermore, pollsters can sway voters one way or the other. The number of national pollsters have mushroomed mostly giving mixed, confusing, and unreliable results. This last presidential election is a testament to this. All the major national pollsters gave Bush from 2-5 point edge against Gore until election day, except one, the Zogby poll, which correctly predicted that Gore would win the popular votes by a slim margin.I agree, but doubt this could be enforced. In my opinion, the media should not be calling results before all of the polls in every state have closed. Unfortunately, the media is about ratings, not information. The media will do what it must to get ratings, i.e., provide information, even if that information is not always fair or even accurate.
> 4. Ban all exit pollsters from the polls.
>
> They are not always accurate. (This is related to number 3.) Remember the chaos they created when they initially projected Gore as the winner in Florida, then changed it to Bush, then changed it to "too close to call" where we are stuck right now, 5 days after the election.Agree, but doubt this could be enforced for the same reasons noted above.
> 5. Use only "user-friendly" and universal election ballot.
>
> Stop the use of antiquated methods of voting such as the punch cards. With the US in the forefront of the high-tech age, there is no reason why we can't relegate these dinosaurs into extinction.Agree. An overhaul of the system is long overdue.
> 6. Make the US Presidential election day a national holiday.
>
> I believe this will create increased enthusiasm for each citizen to exercise his/her given right to vote. In turn, this leads to increase voter turn out. It is appalling to note that only 50% of the US citizenry participated in the last presidential election. I don't think Americans realize how lucky they are to have the right to shape their future through the election. I came from another country (now US citizen) where the form of government was a carbon copy of the US. Tragically, for at least 15 years, democracy was raped by dictatorship. During this time, not only was the joy of electing a president came to a cruel and abrupt halt, but also the right of the people to gather, demonstrate and express ones' opinion. People were afraid to say anything negative about the president turned dictator. For one to do so risk a chance of being vanished without a trace and/or his/her family threatened and tortured. Finally, after those agonizing years although at the expense of countless lives, democracy was restored and the dictator was VOTED out of power and out of the country.Big agreement here!
Snowie
poster:Snowie
thread:2336
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001031/msgs/2597.html