RE: A better way to vote

From: debadger <debadger_at_pacbell.net_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 09:36:55 -0800

I like the idea of a MUCH shorter campaign and no newscaster predictions
once voting has started. No ads the week before the election heavily favors
the incumbent, who can do "newsworthy" high profile things to get his face
before the voter. The incumbent also had daily feeding frenzies called news
briefings. I do like the fact that the radio stations (dunno about TV,
mine's still in storage) noticed and loudly commented on that last minute
Kerry smear which was supposed to be a "documentary" and was actually a Bush
ad. They all mentioned the 'last minute sting', a common practice where
both candidates run a last minute vicious smear or surprise 'revelation'
about their opponent.

I would like to see a month, maybe two month, primary then EVERYONE, NATION
WIDE, VOTES AT THE SAME TIME! I am so sick of having my "vote" decided long
before the primary even happens in my state. And while we're at it, count
all the absentee ballots too, all the time, not just when they may favor one
candidate or the other. After all, these folks actually went to the trouble
to vote. I remember my mom making sure she mailed in her ballot because she
was going in for surgery and wanted to be sure she got her vote in.

Makes me wonder though, what percentage of the mail in votes are cast by
people who mailed in just before surgery but died before the election?
We've heard of Chicago's famous 'dead voting block', but maybe the
difference is that we know the mail in voter actually did want to vote for a
specific candidate...

I like the primary and secondary vote idea. It would actually let people
vote their conscience instead of choosing the 'lesser of two evils' because
the candidate they really like doesn't stand a chance. It would also give a
more accurate sense of what people really want, a candidate might still win
but many of the second choices would make a much stronger showing and
perhaps have enough of a presence to make it possible for them to run again
and win. The electoral collage had a two vote rule for a while, allowing
each member to vote for their favored son, then for the 'real' candidate.

I'd actually like to get rid of the electoral collage. It was supposed to
be a way of keeping the vote from being swayed too much by popular opinion
(the Founders weren't all THAT enamored of the 'common man') but it's time
for us to get rid of it. At the very least we ought to have the votes more
accurately reflect the popular vote instead of some states giving winner
take all and others splitting by popular vote.

Elena
Received on 2004-11-13 09:35:44