One reform that absolutely needs to be done is to ban election officials from holding even honorary positions with any campaign. Having Fla. Sec. of State Harris act as if she was unbiased in the election fiasco when she was Bush’s honorary state Republican chairperson was just a joke. The Ohio Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, was Bush’s Ohio honorary chairman, and I suspect there were other examples as well. It doesn’t give me any confidence in the system to see the mice guarding the cheese like that.
Okay, posters who favor the electoral college on the grounds that the small states need it – Please cite examples of ways in which the electoral college has actually benefited any small state, in any election in the past 30 or 40 years. Also, please cite examples of presidential candidates making campaign promises targeted to specific single states. Or if it’s rural areas you think need the electoral college, please cite examples of candidates driven by the electoral college to make promises to rural America.
People talk about the small states needing the electoral college, but the only specific I ever seem to see cited is so totally trivial that I can’t believe anyone cares: “candidates campaigning in small states.” I mean, really, what does it matter if a candidate does or does not visit one’s state? Does anyone in America today actually need an in person appearence to learn where a candidate stands? We do, after all, have newspapers, TV, radio, and the internet.
I agree with Patrick M. that we should “ban election officials from holding even honorary positions with any campaign.”
another northern observation - several of my friends and I all commented on the fact that no-where in the Florida system could you find a non-partisan player - not even in the courts, where every judge’s poltical affiliation was known. It seemed odd to us, since our system has non-partisan Chief Electoral Officers, and judges who are expected to cut any pre-existing partisan ties upon going to the bench.
One thing I’ve noticed these days is everyone feels obligated to announce who they are going to vote for, are voting for, who they voted for, what party they support, etc.
Is this a newer development in this country? Didn’t party membership used to be sort of a private thing?