The U.S. needs a democracy overhaul. Here’s what Biden’s first step should be.

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BidenPresident

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President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts should be to convene a high-level commission to recommend a democracy overhaul.

Maybe the cleanest way is simply to abolish the electoral college in favor of a straight national popular vote. Or maybe there is another idea — such as proportional allocation of electoral college votes between the top two candidates in each state — that makes more sense.

The commission should look at encouraging more voter participation. That could mean universal voter registration, which would make the process less arduous but potentially more secure, or making Election Day a holiday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...c92cba-498a-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

We need a democracy overhaul, Washington Post is correct.
 
"Americans should also have confidence that partisan officials will not be able to reject voting results. Internationally, the United States is unusual in that its chief voting administrators — state secretaries of state — are partisan elected officials. "
 
BidenPresident said:
"Americans should also have confidence that partisan officials will not be able to reject voting results. Internationally, the United States is unusual in that its chief voting administrators — state secretaries of state — are partisan elected officials. "
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Always using innuendo on the right. The Secty of State in Georgia is a Repub. People would be surprised to learn how those in charge of elections are just trying to do a good job.
 
Nordberg said:
Always using innuendo on the right. The Secty of State in Georgia is a Repub. People would be surprised to learn how those in charge of elections are just trying to do a good job.
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Certainly. But remember the Sec. of State for Florida was a Bush Campaign member, when Gore and Bush ran for office.
 
Make election day a holiday, but also encourage mail-in-voting as well. Make registering to vote a requirement for h.s. graduation or receiving your GED. Issue everyone a national ID card with photo. When voting by mail, include a copy of it with your ballot. I like the proportional allocation of EC votes but would not limit it to just two parties. Allow other parties whose candidates receive at least 5% of the total to be included. Censure and/or impeach current elected wonks who support contesting any election that has not been found to include fraud by the courts and election authorities.
 
BidenPresident said:
Certainly. But remember the Sec. of State for Florida was a Bush Campaign member, when Gore and Bush ran for office.
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You have to judge them individually. Southern states are famous for removing likely Dems from the voting rolls. They are masters of gerrymandering. The repubs are a minority so they cheat.
 
Or maybe we could take the example of the Super delegate from the Democrat party since they are all about fairness in voting and one person one vote. You know,....that way 2 candidates can run against each other in a particular state,...hold an election, have the people vote,....then when one candidate wins EVERY SINGLE COUNTY in the state the super delegate can say....." Hey citizens,...FUCK YOU! Your vote doesnt matter and is only symbolic because Im delegating this states votes to the losing candidate!" You mean something fair an honest like that? :laugh:
 
Stone said:
Or maybe we could take the example of the Super delegate from the Democrat party since they are all about fairness in voting and one person one vote. You know,....that way 2 candidates can run against each other in a particular state,...hold an election, have the people vote,....then when one candidate wins EVERY SINGLE COUNTY in the state the super delegate can say....." Hey citizens,...FUCK YOU! Your vote doesnt matter and is only symbolic because Im delegating this states votes to the losing candidate!" You mean something fair an honest like that? :laugh:
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uh huh
 
Isn't it funny how the Electoral College is a wonderful thing till your side loses then all of a sudden it becomes an antiquated system that needs to be replaced.
 
BidenPresident said:
President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts should be to convene a high-level commission to recommend a democracy overhaul.

Maybe the cleanest way is simply to abolish the electoral college in favor of a straight national popular vote. Or maybe there is another idea — such as proportional allocation of electoral college votes between the top two candidates in each state — that makes more sense.

The commission should look at encouraging more voter participation. That could mean universal voter registration, which would make the process less arduous but potentially more secure, or making Election Day a holiday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...c92cba-498a-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

We need a democracy overhaul, Washington Post is correct.
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Proportional allocation seems more fair than winner take all in each state, but not between solely the two parties, between any candidates.
But I'm afraid Biden is wader deep bilge pumping the water out of the ship of state. The USA has listed almost to the point of capsizing.
I would counsel him not to make any drastic changes and focus on covid and economic relief. Let's wait for the radical right to lick their wounds
and calm down before we punish them yet again.
 
Micawber said:
Proportional allocation seems more fair than winner take all in each state, but not between solely the two parties, between any candidates.
But I'm afraid Biden is wader deep bilge pumping the water out of the ship of state. The USA has listed almost to the point of capsizing.
I would counsel him not to make any drastic changes and focus on covid and economic relief. Let's wait for the radical right to lick their wounds
and calm down before we punish them yet again.
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Don't agree. Trump is still threatening to stay in office. We have an immediate crisis.
 
Eagle_Eye said:
Isn't it funny how the Electoral College is a wonderful thing till your side loses then all of a sudden it becomes an antiquated system that needs to be replaced.
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So you want it replaced because you lost. But I still want it replaced even though I won. So that is not a funny observation because it's false.
It's called having principles and integrity, and you prove you have them by holding onto them when they result in something against your own interest.
The electoral college is an instrument that perturbs elections away from democratic results. The task for someone who supports the electoral college is to explain
what principle is served by being less democratic than we could be.
 
BidenPresident said:
President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts should be to convene a high-level commission to recommend a democracy overhaul.

Maybe the cleanest way is simply to abolish the electoral college in favor of a straight national popular vote. Or maybe there is another idea — such as proportional allocation of electoral college votes between the top two candidates in each state — that makes more sense.

The commission should look at encouraging more voter participation. That could mean universal voter registration, which would make the process less arduous but potentially more secure, or making Election Day a holiday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...c92cba-498a-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html

We need a democracy overhaul, Washington Post is correct.
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I actually agree with proportional distribution of electoral votes by each state. The Republicans would cream the Democrats in that instance almost regardless of popular vote. A straight popular vote is a horrid idea. It is worse than the 17th Amendment that turned the Senate into a second House rather than a body that represents the States as intended.

The way things were designed originally to work was:

House = Represents the People
Senate = Represents the States
President = Represents the Nation

Turning it all into a popular vote means that goes away and we get government that represents the mob. Bad idea.
 
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