I think we can all agree that something must be done about our flawed election system. The states rights folks will probably be up in arms about this, but when it comes to national elections (president, senators and congressional representatives) we need a national standard. Every person, in every district and in every state MUST vote on the same type of equipment, and in the same manner. The balloting must be transparent and it must be verifiable.
Here is what I propose:
- I have no problem with corporations manufacturing the machines that tally the votes, but I do think that they should be given the specifications of how these machines are to be constructed by an official federal oversight commission.
Any software that is involved in tallying the votes must be made available to this commission for examination - none of this proprietary nonsense. If you want to manufacture and sell voting machines, these are the rules you must play by. After all, we give the automobile industry rules on how to manufacture cars. Voting machines should have even higher standards.
- Voting should be done on a machine that spits out a paper ballot with a randomly generated, unique number on it. At the bottom of that paper ballot is a tear off receipt with the date of the election and the number printed on it. Because the number is randomly generated (think "quick pick" lottery numbers) and only the voter knows which number they got, ballot secrecy is preserved.
- After the voter completes the ballot and gets the paper printout, he/she takes that paper ballot, tears off the receipt, then they run it through an optical scan machine that will tally the votes. The paper ballot is deposited into a sealed box to be kept for recounts and challenges.
- This optical scan machine will also keep the vote cast matched up with the machine generated number.
- After all the votes are tallied, the optical scan machine should be constructed so that the board of elections can obtain a computer file of all the ballot numbers with the vote cast.
For example:
a. 159788645 - president: John Smith, Senator: Jane Doe, Congressional Rep. Sally Jones
b. 569987546 - president: Sara Gluck, Senator: Jon Roe, Congressional Rep. Fred Nelson
- These lists will be published on a web site set up for this purpose. The information should be broken up by State, County and District so you can easily find your number. They will also be available at city/town halls and at public libraries.
After the election is over. The voter can look up the number printed on their receipt and see if their vote was tallied as they cast it. If there is a discrepancy, the voter can take the receipt to the board of elections and contest the vote. The board of elections has the paper ballot that they can compare to the computer tally. At that point the voter may have to give up some secrecy, but perhaps there is a way to mask the numbers once the receipt is matched up with the paper ballot. (I haven't worked that out yet.)
I also think the machine, which the voter actually casts their vote on, should also be capable of counting votes. That tally could be compared for discrepancies with the optical scanner. This method is a bit redundant, but I truly think at this point we need redundancy to make cheating more difficult. Perhaps the 2 machines would need to be made by 2 different manufacturers for an additional protection.
All of this will be more expensive, but, in the long run, I think that creating a voting system that American citizens believe is fair and accurate is worth it.
A word about primaries...
I think that national primaries should be broken down into 5 dates with 10 states voting on each date. DC, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands can be distributed throughout these 5 dates as well. The states should be distributed into these 5 groups alphabetically. The first year Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California will be in the first group. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia will be in the second group, etc. The next year, the first group rotates to the last place and the other groups all move up one slot. This way every state gets to be in the first group every 5 years and that should end that squabbling.
This will also leave the candidates time to campaign in each group of states, especially if the 5 dates are in January, February, March, April and May.
Now, I know that caucuses are a time honored tradition and a great way of voting for those who are able to participate, but because many cannot participate, they really aren't very democratic. If the state parties want to continue with the caucus method, I suggest that they do it for state elections. National elections should be done by primary - one person, one vote.
I also believe that these primaries should be done by the instant runoff method. You rate the candidates #1 for your first choice #2 for your second choice etc.
In round one of counting, the candidate getting the least amount of votes is eliminated. The votes are distributed to the second choice of all those who chose the eliminated candidate. They keep running counting rounds until you have one candidate standing.
There is a site - http://www.demochoice.org/ - set up that does this online so you can see how it works. Voters would be able to choose from all the candidates instead of just those who are left when it comes your turn to vote. It would also give so-called fringe candidates a fighting chance, and thereby giving voters more choices.
I also know that the Democrats and the Republicans love to make up their own rules, but the rules are convoluted, and leave much to be desired as far as fair processes go. The candidate should be chosen for each party by the nation-wide popular vote of people registered in those parties. No more cross over voting - although undeclared and independents should be able to chose a party on the day of the election like we do here in NJ. No more Delegates, Super Delegates or conventions. If the parties want to hold conventions for the fun of it - have at it, but the vote is the vote.
One last thing, any Federal election day MUST be a mandatory holiday for all but emergency workers. Provisions must be made to accommodate these emergency workers so that everyone can vote.
There are probably many flaws that people will find in my methods, but I think I've laid out a good solid starting plan. Have at it!