Electioneering

[Jackson]

Election Rules and timelines.


Primary elections:

-The nation is divided into 5 geographic zones. Each zone has it's primary all on the same day. Zones such as:

-The Northeast /Acela States
-The South
-The Midwest
-The Breadbasket and Big Sky States
-The West Coast and beyond.

Here would be one possible, and very logical map:

-The order of the zones is determined by a lottery ball machine, just like the one used for the lotto. 5 balls go into the machine, the first one that comes out with the zone name on it is the zone that holds the first of 5 -and only 5- primary Tuesdays, and so forth. The lottery will be drawn on New Years's day of election year. Each state gets to decide whether primary or caucus, but they will be held for that zone on that day. No „first in the nation“ states any more. In this way, the candidates themselves do not know until New Years Day where to sink in their money, anyway, so instead of patronizing one region in order to get the upper hand, they stick to their general message and apply it to the ENTIRE nation.

-All pacs, polling and advertising for candidates would be illegal until New Years Day of election year.

-Primary 1: the third tuesday of February
-Primary 2: the first Tuesday of March
-Primary 3: the third Tuesday of March.

-Then, there is a one month break between the 3rd and fourth primary.

-Primary 4: the third Tuesday in April.
-Primary 5: the first Tuesday in May.

And a make-up date for any primaries cancelled due to inclement weather anywhere in the USA, and also for any run-offs, would be on the third Tuesday of May. Polling times and such: see: General Election

The National Conventions for all Parties would be held in June and must be completed by July 1st.

General Election:

The month of July and the first three weeks of August would be open for General Election fundraising. Official begin of the general election season: Labor Day.

Election Day: First Sunday in November, from 06:00 am till 9:30 pm for all time-zones, without exception. Early voting for all 50 states plus DC allowed for 21 days until election day. For states that do mail-in voting, 9:30 pm would be the cutoff for mail delivery. Provisional ballots allowed for all 50 states plus DC. Overseas and military ballots must be time-stamped by 9:30 PM EDT and must be turned in within 5 days of the election.

-Voter ID, a uniform form of ID used throughout the USA, also required to vote in all 50 states plus DC would be required.

-Automatic voter registration for all citizens when they reach the age of 18, with notification of such and information about polling place per postcard. The ID card for voting would be an exact duplicate of the first page of an American Passport, which means when you get a voter ID, it is easy to also apply for your passport at the same time and all of these things can be processed at BMV or SOS offices throughout the land. Oregon is currently the first state in the Union to seriously consider automatic voter registration, starting next year.

-The same Super-computer that did the redistricting also does a computation as to how many voting machines and precincts are necessary in order to get voting done by 9:30 pm and basta, done!

-Exit polling for all 50 states plus DC becomes mandatory for all national elections. Exit polling results are first allowed to be broadcast after the polls close in Alaska.

-The Networks would be forbidden to make any state calls until at least 45 minutes after poll closings and at least 25% of ballots from that state have been counted - and - the exit polling shows at least a +7 margin for the same candidate who is winning in the actual ballot count. This means that the first calls of the night, starting for all states in the Eastern Time zone, would be at 10:15 PM, and not one minute earlier. States that straddle two time zones would close in the time zone that is the most westerly of the two.

-National Popular vote running tallies would also not be published until at least 25% of the nation has reported in.

This methodology, though it may seem boring and lets us have less suspense, allows for the process to be done more quietly. In the event of a big win for someone, where the call for President usually happens around 11 pm, it would only be delayed until 1 or 2 am EDT.

For every single race in the nation, any margin under +0.5% would mean an automatic recount, without exception, but only once all provisional and absentee and overseas ballots are accounted for. Any candidate can also request a recount from between +0.5% and +1.0%, but then he must pay for it.

Due date for every state to submit final canvasses from the General election: Second Sunday in December, exactly 5 weeks after the election.

The electors would still meet in their respective states, but law would dictate that they must vote for the winner of the vote in their state, and in order to ensure that there are no „faithless electors“, the final slate of electors will be electronic across the board. So, the elector signing ceremonies would be mere formalities.

All of these suggestions of mine would make elections cleaner, fairer and more sane. It would eliminate a huge part of the money chase for election and would destroy the permanent election cycles that we are now suffering.

If you are going to elect someone to do a job as a public servant, then you also have to give him time to actually do the job without having to be torn to pieces by a crazy, hodge-podge election process that has grown into a veritable monster.

Wow! You have really thought this out. All of the points you made are good. One thing I have a problem with is mail in voting. It's too easy to be involved with fraud. Service men and women and the physically impaired should be the only ones getting mail in ballots. Perhaps those who need mail in ballots could get cards from your doctor the way handicapped license are handled.

You know, I used to have that thought, too. But Oregon has been doing mail-in voting for almost 20 years now and without a hitch. So, apparently, it really can work.

Isn't Mail In balloting the easiest to fraud?

 

[Statistikhengst]

Election Rules and timelines.


Primary elections:

-The nation is divided into 5 geographic zones. Each zone has it's primary all on the same day. Zones such as:

-The Northeast /Acela States
-The South
-The Midwest
-The Breadbasket and Big Sky States
-The West Coast and beyond.

Here would be one possible, and very logical map:

-The order of the zones is determined by a lottery ball machine, just like the one used for the lotto. 5 balls go into the machine, the first one that comes out with the zone name on it is the zone that holds the first of 5 -and only 5- primary Tuesdays, and so forth. The lottery will be drawn on New Years's day of election year. Each state gets to decide whether primary or caucus, but they will be held for that zone on that day. No „first in the nation“ states any more. In this way, the candidates themselves do not know until New Years Day where to sink in their money, anyway, so instead of patronizing one region in order to get the upper hand, they stick to their general message and apply it to the ENTIRE nation.

-All pacs, polling and advertising for candidates would be illegal until New Years Day of election year.

-Primary 1: the third tuesday of February
-Primary 2: the first Tuesday of March
-Primary 3: the third Tuesday of March.

-Then, there is a one month break between the 3rd and fourth primary.

-Primary 4: the third Tuesday in April.
-Primary 5: the first Tuesday in May.

And a make-up date for any primaries cancelled due to inclement weather anywhere in the USA, and also for any run-offs, would be on the third Tuesday of May. Polling times and such: see: General Election

The National Conventions for all Parties would be held in June and must be completed by July 1st.

General Election:

The month of July and the first three weeks of August would be open for General Election fundraising. Official begin of the general election season: Labor Day.

Election Day: First Sunday in November, from 06:00 am till 9:30 pm for all time-zones, without exception. Early voting for all 50 states plus DC allowed for 21 days until election day. For states that do mail-in voting, 9:30 pm would be the cutoff for mail delivery. Provisional ballots allowed for all 50 states plus DC. Overseas and military ballots must be time-stamped by 9:30 PM EDT and must be turned in within 5 days of the election.

-Voter ID, a uniform form of ID used throughout the USA, also required to vote in all 50 states plus DC would be required.

-Automatic voter registration for all citizens when they reach the age of 18, with notification of such and information about polling place per postcard. The ID card for voting would be an exact duplicate of the first page of an American Passport, which means when you get a voter ID, it is easy to also apply for your passport at the same time and all of these things can be processed at BMV or SOS offices throughout the land. Oregon is currently the first state in the Union to seriously consider automatic voter registration, starting next year.

-The same Super-computer that did the redistricting also does a computation as to how many voting machines and precincts are necessary in order to get voting done by 9:30 pm and basta, done!

-Exit polling for all 50 states plus DC becomes mandatory for all national elections. Exit polling results are first allowed to be broadcast after the polls close in Alaska.

-The Networks would be forbidden to make any state calls until at least 45 minutes after poll closings and at least 25% of ballots from that state have been counted - and - the exit polling shows at least a +7 margin for the same candidate who is winning in the actual ballot count. This means that the first calls of the night, starting for all states in the Eastern Time zone, would be at 10:15 PM, and not one minute earlier. States that straddle two time zones would close in the time zone that is the most westerly of the two.

-National Popular vote running tallies would also not be published until at least 25% of the nation has reported in.

This methodology, though it may seem boring and lets us have less suspense, allows for the process to be done more quietly. In the event of a big win for someone, where the call for President usually happens around 11 pm, it would only be delayed until 1 or 2 am EDT.

For every single race in the nation, any margin under +0.5% would mean an automatic recount, without exception, but only once all provisional and absentee and overseas ballots are accounted for. Any candidate can also request a recount from between +0.5% and +1.0%, but then he must pay for it.

Due date for every state to submit final canvasses from the General election: Second Sunday in December, exactly 5 weeks after the election.

The electors would still meet in their respective states, but law would dictate that they must vote for the winner of the vote in their state, and in order to ensure that there are no „faithless electors“, the final slate of electors will be electronic across the board. So, the elector signing ceremonies would be mere formalities.

All of these suggestions of mine would make elections cleaner, fairer and more sane. It would eliminate a huge part of the money chase for election and would destroy the permanent election cycles that we are now suffering.

If you are going to elect someone to do a job as a public servant, then you also have to give him time to actually do the job without having to be torn to pieces by a crazy, hodge-podge election process that has grown into a veritable monster.

Wow! You have really thought this out. All of the points you made are good. One thing I have a problem with is mail in voting. It's too easy to be involved with fraud. Service men and women and the physically impaired should be the only ones getting mail in ballots. Perhaps those who need mail in ballots could get cards from your doctor the way handicapped license are handled.

You know, I used to have that thought, too. But Oregon has been doing mail-in voting for almost 20 years now and without a hitch. So, apparently, it really can work.

Isn't Mail In balloting the easiest to fraud?

I don't think so.

Oregon Secretary of State Voting in Oregon

 

[M14 Shooter]

I reject the premise that something "must" be done to "fix" the "problem" with elections in the US.
None of anything proposed here is necessary.

 

[Statistikhengst]

I disagree with you.

 

[M14 Shooter]

I disagree with you.

So...?

 

[Statistikhengst]

LOL!

 

[PhilosphyBeforeParty]

This thread is a project I have been working on for months, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Putting it out on USMB is a promise I made to [MENTION=32163]Listening[/MENTION].

From the moment a US-Representative is sworn in, he or she is already planning and fundraising for the NEXT election. Huge PACS and Super-PACS are scrounging for money all year long. The media machine for all political parties is set to full-blast 24/7. Polling for the next presidential election started quite literally on the day after the last presidential election! We are now living in a permanent election cycle that literally never ends. This is not healthy for us.

Liberals complain that voter suppression is happening. Conservatives complain that there is voter fraud. Both sides have some very valid complaints. The last three presidential election have seen long-lines of people waiting to vote at polling places not equipped to handle that many people. Gerrymandering has literally made about 80% of the House of Representatives „safe“. And the list goes on and on.

In fact, it is just crazy.

In many ways, we have an electoral system that is designed for failure. That was surely not the intent of the founding fathers, but this is how it is working out and I think the time for some real common sense changes has come.

In this report, Conservatives, Moderates and Liberals are all going to find some things that they like and things that they don't like, but I ask of you to read all of it and digest it before commenting.

My main contention is that there is a severe structural flaw in our system of electioneering, namely, that very little of it is set in stone in the US Constitution. What was considered checks-and-balances has now become gridlock. And the rest, because of Federalism, is left up to the individual states to decide. And out of this, a hodge-podge patchwork of electioneering has evolved into a money making-monster.

So, I am a proposing a complete overhaul of our electoral system, but not an elimination of the „Electoral College“, as we like to call it. I am going to do this in four parts. Because of the length of this all, and to make it easier for you all to quote only one section, these four parts will be spread over postings 2-5 of this thread:

I. The Legislative (posting no. 2)
II. The Executive (posting no. 3)
III. The Judicial (posting no. 4)
IV. Election rules and timelines (posting no. 5)

Many of these things are things that Larry Sabato has also suggested in his book „Toward a more Perfect Union“, but many of them are also orginal ideas of mine.

The goal of all of this is to

a.) increase the amount of undisrupted time for governing between elections.
b.) streamline the actual time frame of electioneering.
c.) unify the rules for electioneering.
d.) reduce the money chase.

I am not saying that this is the only way to do this, but I do think that much of what I suggest is worthy of real adult debate. As I already wrote, each person will probably find some things he likes and some things he doesn't like, and that is good, for such sparks intelligent debate. Furthermore, I deliberately left out a lot of the reason for WHY I feel this way about many things. I did this to spur people to question or to come up with reasons themselves.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A friendly shout-out to all of these good people, from the Right, the Left and the Middle. I hope very much that you read all 5 opening postings and then comment. This could become one of the best discussions of the year.

[MENTION=31258]BDBoop[/MENTION] [MENTION=42916]Derideo_Te[/MENTION] [MENTION=40495]AngelsNDemons[/MENTION] [MENTION=41527]Pogo[/MENTION] [MENTION=26011]Ernie S.[/MENTION] [MENTION=9429]AVG-JOE[/MENTION] @Mad Cabbie [MENTION=42649]Gracie[/MENTION] [MENTION=20412]JakeStarkey[/MENTION] [MENTION=25505]Jroc[/MENTION] [MENTION=38281]Wolfsister77[/MENTION] [MENTION=21679]william the wie[/MENTION] [MENTION=23424]syrenn[/MENTION] [MENTION=43625]Mertex[/MENTION] [MENTION=37250]aaronleland[/MENTION] [MENTION=36767]Bloodrock44[/MENTION] [MENTION=36528]cereal_killer[/MENTION] [MENTION=40540]Connery[/MENTION] [MENTION=30999]daws101[/MENTION] [MENTION=46449]Delta4Embassy[/MENTION] [MENTION=33449]BreezeWood[/MENTION] [MENTION=31362]gallantwarrior[/MENTION] [MENTION=24610]iamwhatiseem[/MENTION] [MENTION=46750]Knightfall[/MENTION] [MENTION=46690]Libertarianman[/MENTION] [MENTION=1322]007[/MENTION] [MENTION=20450]MarcATL[/MENTION] [MENTION=20594]Mr Clean[/MENTION] [MENTION=20704]Nosmo King[/MENTION] [MENTION=43268]TemplarKormac[/MENTION] [MENTION=20321]rightwinger[/MENTION] [MENTION=41494]RandallFlagg[/MENTION] [MENTION=25283]Sallow[/MENTION] Samson [MENTION=21357]SFC Ollie[/MENTION] @Sherri [MENTION=43491]TooTall[/MENTION] [MENTION=25451]tinydancer[/MENTION] [MENTION=31918]Unkotare[/MENTION] [MENTION=45104]WelfareQueen[/MENTION] [MENTION=21524]oldfart[/MENTION] [MENTION=42498]Esmeralda[/MENTION] [MENTION=43888]AyeCantSeeYou[/MENTION] [MENTION=19302]Montrovant[/MENTION] [MENTION=11703]strollingbones[/MENTION] [MENTION=18988]PixieStix[/MENTION] [MENTION=23262]peach174[/MENTION] [MENTION=13805]Againsheila[/MENTION] [MENTION=20342]Ringel05[/MENTION] [MENTION=38085]Noomi[/MENTION] [MENTION=18905]Sherry[/MENTION] [MENTION=29697]freedombecki[/MENTION] [MENTION=22590]AquaAthena[/MENTION] [MENTION=38146]Dajjal[/MENTION] [MENTION=18645]Sarah G[/MENTION] [MENTION=46193]Thx[/MENTION] [MENTION=20614]candycorn[/MENTION] [MENTION=24452]Seawytch[/MENTION] [MENTION=29614]C_Clayton_Jones[/MENTION] [MENTION=18990]Barb[/MENTION] [MENTION=19867]G.T.[/MENTION] [MENTION=31057]JoeB131[/MENTION] [MENTION=11278]editec[/MENTION] [MENTION=22983]Flopper[/MENTION] [MENTION=22889]Matthew[/MENTION] [MENTION=46136]dreolin[/MENTION]

I wanted to have an intelligent debate with you about this, but quite frankly I don't find much fault in your reasoning. not many people hear that from me.

That is really kind of you!!

It's just a set of suggestions based on common sense and a desire to make electioneering fairer, more streamlined and less of a game.

 

[PhilosphyBeforeParty]

This thread is a project I have been working on for months, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Putting it out on USMB is a promise I made to [MENTION=32163]Listening[/MENTION].

From the moment a US-Representative is sworn in, he or she is already planning and fundraising for the NEXT election. Huge PACS and Super-PACS are scrounging for money all year long. The media machine for all political parties is set to full-blast 24/7. Polling for the next presidential election started quite literally on the day after the last presidential election! We are now living in a permanent election cycle that literally never ends. This is not healthy for us.

Liberals complain that voter suppression is happening. Conservatives complain that there is voter fraud. Both sides have some very valid complaints. The last three presidential election have seen long-lines of people waiting to vote at polling places not equipped to handle that many people. Gerrymandering has literally made about 80% of the House of Representatives „safe“. And the list goes on and on.

In fact, it is just crazy.

In many ways, we have an electoral system that is designed for failure. That was surely not the intent of the founding fathers, but this is how it is working out and I think the time for some real common sense changes has come.

In this report, Conservatives, Moderates and Liberals are all going to find some things that they like and things that they don't like, but I ask of you to read all of it and digest it before commenting.

My main contention is that there is a severe structural flaw in our system of electioneering, namely, that very little of it is set in stone in the US Constitution. What was considered checks-and-balances has now become gridlock. And the rest, because of Federalism, is left up to the individual states to decide. And out of this, a hodge-podge patchwork of electioneering has evolved into a money making-monster.

So, I am a proposing a complete overhaul of our electoral system, but not an elimination of the „Electoral College“, as we like to call it. I am going to do this in four parts. Because of the length of this all, and to make it easier for you all to quote only one section, these four parts will be spread over postings 2-5 of this thread:

I. The Legislative (posting no. 2)
II. The Executive (posting no. 3)
III. The Judicial (posting no. 4)
IV. Election rules and timelines (posting no. 5)

Many of these things are things that Larry Sabato has also suggested in his book „Toward a more Perfect Union“, but many of them are also orginal ideas of mine.

The goal of all of this is to

a.) increase the amount of undisrupted time for governing between elections.
b.) streamline the actual time frame of electioneering.
c.) unify the rules for electioneering.
d.) reduce the money chase.

I am not saying that this is the only way to do this, but I do think that much of what I suggest is worthy of real adult debate. As I already wrote, each person will probably find some things he likes and some things he doesn't like, and that is good, for such sparks intelligent debate. Furthermore, I deliberately left out a lot of the reason for WHY I feel this way about many things. I did this to spur people to question or to come up with reasons themselves.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A friendly shout-out to all of these good people, from the Right, the Left and the Middle. I hope very much that you read all 5 opening postings and then comment. This could become one of the best discussions of the year.

[MENTION=31258]BDBoop[/MENTION] [MENTION=42916]Derideo_Te[/MENTION] [MENTION=40495]AngelsNDemons[/MENTION] [MENTION=41527]Pogo[/MENTION] [MENTION=26011]Ernie S.[/MENTION] [MENTION=9429]AVG-JOE[/MENTION] @Mad Cabbie [MENTION=42649]Gracie[/MENTION] [MENTION=20412]JakeStarkey[/MENTION] [MENTION=25505]Jroc[/MENTION] [MENTION=38281]Wolfsister77[/MENTION] [MENTION=21679]william the wie[/MENTION] [MENTION=23424]syrenn[/MENTION] [MENTION=43625]Mertex[/MENTION] [MENTION=37250]aaronleland[/MENTION] [MENTION=36767]Bloodrock44[/MENTION] [MENTION=36528]cereal_killer[/MENTION] [MENTION=40540]Connery[/MENTION] [MENTION=30999]daws101[/MENTION] [MENTION=46449]Delta4Embassy[/MENTION] [MENTION=33449]BreezeWood[/MENTION] [MENTION=31362]gallantwarrior[/MENTION] [MENTION=24610]iamwhatiseem[/MENTION] [MENTION=46750]Knightfall[/MENTION] [MENTION=46690]Libertarianman[/MENTION] [MENTION=1322]007[/MENTION] [MENTION=20450]MarcATL[/MENTION] [MENTION=20594]Mr Clean[/MENTION] [MENTION=20704]Nosmo King[/MENTION] [MENTION=43268]TemplarKormac[/MENTION] [MENTION=20321]rightwinger[/MENTION] [MENTION=41494]RandallFlagg[/MENTION] [MENTION=25283]Sallow[/MENTION] Samson [MENTION=21357]SFC Ollie[/MENTION] @Sherri [MENTION=43491]TooTall[/MENTION] [MENTION=25451]tinydancer[/MENTION] [MENTION=31918]Unkotare[/MENTION] [MENTION=45104]WelfareQueen[/MENTION] [MENTION=21524]oldfart[/MENTION] [MENTION=42498]Esmeralda[/MENTION] [MENTION=43888]AyeCantSeeYou[/MENTION] [MENTION=19302]Montrovant[/MENTION] [MENTION=11703]strollingbones[/MENTION] [MENTION=18988]PixieStix[/MENTION] [MENTION=23262]peach174[/MENTION] [MENTION=13805]Againsheila[/MENTION] [MENTION=20342]Ringel05[/MENTION] [MENTION=38085]Noomi[/MENTION] [MENTION=18905]Sherry[/MENTION] [MENTION=29697]freedombecki[/MENTION] [MENTION=22590]AquaAthena[/MENTION] [MENTION=38146]Dajjal[/MENTION] [MENTION=18645]Sarah G[/MENTION] [MENTION=46193]Thx[/MENTION] [MENTION=20614]candycorn[/MENTION] [MENTION=24452]Seawytch[/MENTION] [MENTION=29614]C_Clayton_Jones[/MENTION] [MENTION=18990]Barb[/MENTION] [MENTION=19867]G.T.[/MENTION] [MENTION=31057]JoeB131[/MENTION] [MENTION=11278]editec[/MENTION] [MENTION=22983]Flopper[/MENTION] [MENTION=22889]Matthew[/MENTION] [MENTION=46136]dreolin[/MENTION]

I wanted to have an intelligent debate with you about this, but quite frankly I don't find much fault in your reasoning. not many people hear that from me.

That is really kind of you!!

It's just a set of suggestions based on common sense and a desire to make electioneering fairer, more streamlined and less of a game.

i'm serious. you should send this to someone. this contains arguments that I have been making for years, plus some that I hadn't even thought of. I especially liked how you suggested shorter terms for justices (one of the largest reasons why the civil rights movement took so long to gain momentum was because the supreme court couldn't be "refreshed" or "updated"), i'm just not sure if it is a good idea to have them elected by popular vote. the only thing that I actually disagree with is that the president would have to win 62% of the vote to gain an additional 3 years. that number should be higher. implementing this set of suggestions would be extremely difficult without, but impossible with our partisan system, therefore if it was implemented, political parties would not be as prominent. the main reason no president has ever won more than 62% of the popular vote is because, sadly, too many people always vote for the candidate form one party rather than the one who is a better candidate. this means that if that is not a factor, a good president could easily gain the votes necessary for a 3 term extension.

overall, this is vary good, well thought out plan to fix our severely outdated election system. the only major problem is implementation. there is no way it will be implemented all at once, as it is very hard to change anything with our current system of perpetual campaigning, but maybe, hopefully, piece by piece, it will happen.