[ul]
[li]100% mail-in voting, it works in Oregon.[/li][li]3 weeks to get your ballot in.[/li][li]Start counting and reporting as they come in. This is the key, everyone will get to know the progress of voting over a 3 week period. It will inspire more people to get involved, the get-out-the-vote efforts will work themselves into a frenzy. The media will have something meaningful to report. It’ll be like march-madness, the world series, and the superbowl rolled into one! :D[/li][/ul]
Voting should be run at the national level by an independent group. Standardized practices across the country.
I agree with Drunky Smurf that I’d love it if things like TV advertisements were outlawed, unfortunately that will probably never happen and it’s pretty anti-thetical to the core concerns of the First Amendment. Political speech has always been given the highest protection of any speech.
Replacing the “first past the post” system would go a long way in helping, too.
Can’t say I’m really concerned about making sure we avoid religious holidays. If someone’s religion is extreme enough to prevent them from doing something as non-labor intensive as voting, then tough luck for them. Someone else’s religion shouldn’t factor into national decisions. And they can always vote absentee anyways.
When I lived in Oregon, I espoused the same idea to a friend of mine (who had lived in Oregon his whole life). He said that Oregon is known for having one of the worst voter fraud problems in the country because of the mail-in system.
Death by slow torture for anyone who begins campaigning more than three months before the election. This includes forming exploratory committees, visits to New Hampshire and Iowa, junkets to “Ireland, Italy, and Israel”, and even pandering to constituent groups by incumbents.
At which point, there would be a sharp increase in partisan PACs, as corporations were already allowed to donate to those before Citizens United v. FEC. (They just couldn’t donate directly to candidates.)
I also notice that, while the overturned law banned corporations from spending on all elections, the law only banned labor union expenditures on Presidential, Senate, and Congressional elections (not, for example, a governor’s race).
The only way that voting should be compulsory is if there is a clear option for “I choose not to vote for any of the listed candidates, or for or against any of the initiatives.” Technically, you can do that now - as far as I know, there is no law against handing in a blank ballot.
If they couldn’t buy Romney this election, perhaps the billionaires will not throw so much money around next time. Maybe it doesn’t work. i think they could have pissed off the country just as well for about half what they spent this year.
- Standardize the voting process
- Make all states answerable to the federal government if they want to change their voting rules
- Early voting for everyone, equal voting periods for everyone
- Election day is now Election Weekend. It is also a national holiday and all government employees get the day off
- Whatever devices we use, there MUST be a papertrail
Friday is a holy day for the Musselmen. Though they shouldn’t be voting anyway.