fixing democracy

[streicher187]

Since we are trying to spread democracy around the world maybe we should fix ours first If I was in charge it would be simple

Registration
Make it mandatory registration at 18. You don't have to declare a party but on your 18th birthday you have to become registered. This will make complete registration lists and you just go to you polling place tell them who you are and vote.. IF you move and don't change it then it's your fault, your sol and you can not vote.

Election Day
this has annoyed me forever, There are fake holidays like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving not to mention all the joke bank holidays. Election day should be a national holiday all over the United States. People who work 12 hours now don't get a chance to vote in most states as polls open and close while they are at work.

Voting
Absantee ballots ONLY if you are out of the country on business or can not leave your home.

All voting in presidential election should be standard ballots and all machines should have a paper trail(I go to sheetz and order food I get a print out why can I not on voting machines?) It's a national election for the most powerfull job in america and not only each each state ballot and ways to get on different but counties in each state are different.

Military
Bases and Military Zones should have a week long polling station set up. The soldiers who are defending the country should not have to worry about if they did their ballots right and if they got in on time. The should just be able to go in and vote on their base or where they are located at the time.


Results
NO results should be given untill all polls are closed. Giving the results before only cause people on west coast to either not vote or go out and vote in bigger rolls if their guy is in/out of it.

Electoral college
should be done away with, you can not do popular vote but you can divide up the votes in each state by percentage won. Right now half the states there is no reason for one party or the other to vote.. This would get more people involved and make the candidates spend more time/money in states they don't visit.

THE COURTS SHOULD NOT SETTLE THE ELECTION. 2000 was a disgrace to democracy and should never happen again.

[ensbergcollector]

i agree with 95% of that. especially these:

everyone registers (by law people have to sign up for selective service, they can register at the same time)

election day holiday.
no results until all polls close!

[aw00d05]

most of this was very good especially the everyone registered part, i've heard somewhere that in australia they have to vote or they go to jail.

[Yanksfan396]

This is why I love voting in Oregon. I did mine a week ago, and I STILL leave work early! If the United States so willingly crams Democracy down the throats of outsiders, then it should do it to its citizens. I'm 100% for mandatory registration.

[daniel3417]

Election Day
this has annoyed me forever, There are fake holidays like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving not to mention all the joke bank holidays. Election day should be a national holiday all over the United States. People who work 12 hours now don't get a chance to vote in most states as polls open and close while they are at work.

Early voting?

[gatorboymike]

Private interests should no longer be able to contribute to campaigns. Think about this...for every presidential candidate, the vast majority of their campaign contributions come from big businesses and lobby groups. Those people then essentially control a slice of the candidate, and when he gets into office, they'll expect him to act on their behalf at the expense of everyone else. If you're running for president and you get $10 million in donations from the people and $50 million from SuperultramegaCorp Industries, who are you going to feel more indebted to? Who are you going to feel more obliged to thank by acting on their behalf if you win?

We should change it so that only the public can contribute to campaigns. Maybe $1000 per person over 18 per household. And candidates and their relatives should not be able to contribute more than $1000 of their own money, because that would give a candidate whose net worth is $50 million an advantage over a candidate whose net worth is $1 million. That will save the country hundreds of millions of dollars. And the biggest bonus of all, that means less advertising, forcing the candidates to be more economic with their money.

[haybierman]

Nice post Streicher. I agree completely. I've always had a beef with Election Day not being a holiday because you have a ton of people who don't vote simply because they have to work and can't take the time off. Heck, I work for the government and am struggling to find a second in my day I can leave to go wait in line for 4 hours to vote today!

I also agree with showing early results. Study after study has shown that early election results greatly influence voter turnout in western states. Its electioneering on part of the networks and its BS.

Great post bud.