Electoral reforms - what is needed?

[Danny Bateman]

I could talk for a long time about some of the changes I wish we'd make. Things I would support would be some of the following:

 

• Abolishing the Electoral College
• Election day being a national holiday (or expanding it to multiple days/weekend or something like that)
• Free issuance of voter ID card in a way that isn't racially or politically biased
• Automatic voter registration at 18

 

Etc etc. I found this tweet today though, and it's got big implications for how our political system works moving forward:

 

 

That is INSANE. The Senate has a rapidly growing small state bias problem.

 

The question is, what should be done about it? Or should nothing be done? What would you do to make voting/elections more fair here?

[Moiraine]

55 minutes ago, Danny Bateman said:

I could talk for a long time about some of the changes I wish we'd make. Things I would support would be some of the following:

 

• Abolishing the Electoral College
• Election day being a national holiday (or expanding it to multiple days/weekend or something like that)
• Free issuance of voter ID card in a way that isn't racially or politically biased
• Automatic voter registration at 18

 

Etc etc. I found this tweet today though, and it's got big implications for how our political system works moving forward:

 

 

That is INSANE. The Senate has a rapidly growing small state bias problem.

 

The question is, what should be done about it? Or should nothing be done? What would you do to make voting/elections more fair here?

 

 

 

For the small state thing, I don't know. The GOP has a hold of those voters and it's hard to see them letting go, regardless of whether the GOP's policies are actually better for them or not. The Democrats have to try to reach them but it seems like a losing battle and it's mostly about appearances and not actions.

The House/presidential elections need to stop also giving people in those states over-representation. The entire system is rigged in favor of people in low population states right now.

[BigRedBuster]

a)  End Gerrymandering.

 

b)  Shrink the primary season down to roughly 2 months in the summer of the election year.

 

c)  Have the general election 2-3 months after primaries end.

 

d)  Have a lottery system of order of primaries.

 

e)  Have regional primaries where 3-4 states are combined for the same primary.

 

f)  Hold the general election over a weekend.  Polls open at 8:00am on Friday.  They close at 8:00pm on Sunday.

 

g)  figure out safe, secure, easy and fair way for voter ID so we know only American citizens are voting in election.  This may very well be (for the most part) true now, but we have a trust issue here that needs addressed.

 

h)  Implement ranked-choice vote.  This should be in the primaries also.

[Danny Bateman]

I would like to see this happen both because I think it's right for these places have federal representation and selfishly because it's good for liberals. The small state skew of the Senate is stupid. Without figuring out their increasingly difficult problem in the Senate, Democrats/liberals/progressives will get nothing they want done.

 

It would also prevent the tendency of a cruel president to screw over Americans in Puerto Rico out of spite if they had senators.

 

 

[Ulty]

A federal appeals court ruled late Tuesday that presidential electors who cast the actual ballots for president and vice president are free to vote as they wish and cannot be required to follow the results of the popular vote in their states.

[commando]

3 minutes ago, Ulty said:

A federal appeals court ruled late Tuesday that presidential electors who cast the actual ballots for president and vice president are free to vote as they wish and cannot be required to follow the results of the popular vote in their states.

that makes as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.  

[Moiraine]

7 hours ago, commando said:

that makes as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.  

 

 

Electors should not exist because the Electoral College should not exist.

 

Hopefully this election is a landslide. As I've said before, getting rid of the electoral college and passing laws on gerrymandering should be the Democrats' number one goal if they get the presidency and the senate.

[commando]

Just now, Moiraine said:

 

 

Electors should not exist because the Electoral College should not exist.

 

Hopefully this election is a landslide. As I've said before, getting rid of the electoral college and passing laws on gerrymandering should be the Democrats' number one goal if they get the presidency and the senate.

but if we have them they should vote for who the voters choose.  if they are not bound then it only matters who they want rather than the voters....rendering the election pointless.

[Moiraine]

7 minutes ago, commando said:

but if we have them they should vote for who the voters choose.  if they are not bound then it only matters who they want rather than the voters....rendering the election pointless.

 

 

of course

[teachercd]

Haha...what a super progressive idea!  let 500 people decide it all!  

[funhusker]

Weren’t a lot of people holding on to a sliver of hope in 2016 that the electors would not vote for the candidate that won the states popular vote?

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

 

[BigRedBuster]

 

[TGHusker]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out at the SC.

 

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-to-consider-whether-presidential-electors-can-vote-for-candidate-not-chosen-in-state-popular-vote-11579293850

 

Quote

 

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take a rare look at rules for electing U.S. presidents, saying it will decide whether a state’s appointed presidential electors can vote in the Electoral College for a candidate who didn’t win the state’s popular vote.

The court’s eventual decision could have ramifications for razor-thin presidential elections if enough members of the Electoral College seek to break rank and cast ballots that depart from the will of the voters.

The high court said it would hear a pair of cases from Colorado and Washington where state law requires presidential electors to vote for the presidential candidate that won the statewide vote.

 

In the 2016 election, one Colorado elector was replaced when he cast a vote for Ohio Republican John Kasich instead of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee who carried the state.

A divided federal appeals court sided with the faithless elector last year, ruling Colorado violated the Constitution by nullifying his vote. That court said that while a state has the power to pick its electors, those electors have the discretion to vote for whom they wish.

 

 

[teachercd]

On 5/5/2019 at 10:15 AM, Danny Bateman said:

I could talk for a long time about some of the changes I wish we'd make. Things I would support would be some of the following:

 

• Abolishing the Electoral College
• Election day being a national holiday (or expanding it to multiple days/weekend or something like that)
• Free issuance of voter ID card in a way that isn't racially or politically biased
• Automatic voter registration at 18

 

Etc etc. I found this tweet today though, and it's got big implications for how our political system works moving forward:

 

 

That is INSANE. The Senate has a rapidly growing small state bias problem.

 

The question is, what should be done about it? Or should nothing be done? What would you do to make voting/elections more fair here?

Those are good ideas!

 

I would say...that the voting "age" should also change to "senior in HS" and if there is an election that year (a real one) those seniors take a semester class learning about the people running and then vote at school if they want.

 

I would also kill the EC...then again after reading some of the nutty posts here I can see why our four fathers...or was it five fathers?  Created it.