What are yours? I have a few I would like to see.
(1) National primary day: One day of primaries voted on by every state. Similar to the general election. Why do we give early states so much power?
1. No. That would mean only the incredibly well known or the incredibly well endowed would win. Better choice would be to have 4-10 days of regional primaries such as you have with the Super Tuesday.
(2) One primary vote: The primary covers all candidates regardless of party. In fact party can not be listed on the ballot, on the candidate's websites, in advertisements or during elections debates. The top 3 vote receivers (not states won) 3, regardless of party, run in the generals. No other candidates can run (write Ins still allowed).
Not sure how I feel about that.
(3) Primary debates: minimum of 4 candidates max of 10. Top 10 candidates in the polls with a minimum of 2%.
This is really a thorn in my side. Look folks, we have federal elections for President every 4 years. Not every month. Debates should be the following format. If you’re on the ballot in enough states to qualify for the delegate count to win your party’s nomination x 1.5%(i.e. if it takes 1,000 delegates, you have to be on the ballot in enough states to equal 1,500 delegates), you get on the stage. Televised debates will be as follows:
“One issue concerning the nation is the Federal Debt that is reaching $20 Trillion Dollars. Ms. Jones; you have 3 minutes. What would you do to pay off some or all of the debt if you’re elected President?” At the end of 3 minutes. “Thank you Ms. Jones. Mr. Smith, One issue concerning the nation is the Federal Debt that is reaching $20 Trillion Dollars. Ms. Jones; you have 3 minutes. What would you do to pay off some or all of the debt if you’re elected President?” If there are 20 candidates on stage, you get 60 minutes of speeches from 20 different speakers. A debate isn’t what you’ve seen on TV in the past few years. A debate is a moderator introducing a topic and getting a discussion going on it. If a candidate like Mr. Smith wants to spend their time just having a 3 minute ***** session; so be it.
Next question. The Moderator goes to the person who least detailed what they would do with Question 1 and addresses them first. “Mr. Smith, Another issue concerning the nation is a President’s power to send troops around the world with little or no input from Congress. As President what would you do to uphold the Constitutional principle of Congress having the sole power to declare war?” Now, Mr. Smith can’t just have a 3 minute ***** session about what the last person said or whatever. When he is done, ask the same question to Mr. Brown, Ms. White, Mr. James, etc…
The point is that if the debate lasts 5 hours, well, gee we will have to just forget about watching Modern Family that evening. Would it be “good TV”. No. It would be horrible TV and have bad ratings. However, you would get some detailed responses from the candidates instead of discussions about hand size or the like.
(4) 4 month span from end of primaries to generals. Primary Aug and gen in Nov.
This I can get behind. I would change a few things about it but I think the electoral calendar is way too long.
(5) VOTER ID: Have strong and debuts voter ID. Require a national ID for voting. It would also be used to combat illegal immigration.
I’m all for that but I would, in federal elections, have the federal government supply the voting machines that are to be used; 100% uniformity so the staff at the office knows what they look like from year to year, the Sate SoS offices are trained on them; the Modus Operandi for the voters is the same year after year. If the States want to use them in non federal elections…fine or if they want to use another system, fine too.
(6) Popular vote rules: No more electoral voting. The popular vote determines the winner.
Horrible Idea. For example, if we ever have multiple major parties, you could have a person win the presidency with 37% of the vote. Further…You’d never see a candidate outside of a major population center. I will say that the electoral vote should just be 50% of what is needed to win. You should have to win both the EV and the plurality of the PV to become President Elect. If you don’t meet both thresholds…the House and Senate are called in to decide the executive.
