How We Can Improve Our Election System

A few ideas about how we can improve the election system here in the U.S.:

A One-Year Election Cycle

Would-be candidates would be forbidden from forming PAC’s, taking campaign contributions or actively campaigning in any way until the November of the year prior to the election. Election Day doesn’t fall on the same day of the month each election year, so the one year mark could be set at November 2^nd, which is the earliest possible day that an election could be held (i.e. the Tuesday after the first Monday of November). Assuming that primary season would still begin in February--and that the parties still held their conventions in June--that would give candidates about three months to prepare for primary season, which itself would be approximately four months long.

Campaign Finance Reform

No more dark money, and no more corporate donations. Campaign donations can only be made by individuals, whether directly to a candidate, a PAC, the DNC and/or RNC, etc. PACs must be transparent about who is giving them money, and how they are using it. Unions can vocalize support for candidates, however donations must be made individually by any members who wish to do so. There should be a reasonable cap on how much money any one individual can donate to a candidate; this will help even the playing field and prevent millionaires and billionaires from singlehandedly funding a candidate’s entire campaign.

Automatic Voter Registration

Upon registering for a state I.D. or driver’s license all eligible citizens would automatically be registered to vote. Some states, such as California and Oregon, already have similar practices. Prior to an automatic registration bill being signed into law in 2015 California has an estimated 6.6 million eligible voters who were not registered. Automatic voter registration would prevent problems when unregistered voters--some of whom may not even realize there is a problem with their registration record--leave their registration status unresolved until just before an election.

Make Election Day an Election Weekend

Holding elections on a Tuesday, when most working Americans are…well, working, has the potential to disenfranchise many voters who cannot get to the polls during normal polling hours. Some states have laws on the books allowing workers to take time off to vote if certain conditions are met, but most states do not. A solution would be to have a three-day Election Weekend, Friday-Sunday. People who may not be able to get time off during the week would now have the opportunity to vote on the weekend. Voters who follow the Sabbath (understood to begin at sundown on Friday and end at sundown on Saturday) could vote early on Friday, late on Saturday, and all day Sunday. Those who attend church on Sunday would potentially have all of Friday and Saturday to vote, as well as Sunday after church service.

Compulsory Voting

This one I’m not strong on. There are obvious downsides to making voting compulsory, but an argument could be made that the pros outweigh the cons. Voting for president would be compulsory for all voters unless they have a valid reason why they cannot vote, i.e. religious objections to voting, mental, physical or intellectually disabilities that make it unreasonably difficult for them to vote, etc. Eligible voters who fulfill their obligation, or who can give a valid reason why they could not do so (as discussed above) would be eligible for a tax credit. Eligible voters who do not vote, and do not have a valid reason, would be ineligible for this credit.

Leave Redistricting to Independent Commissions

While I have focused primarily on presidential elections until now, congressional and legislative elections are also important, and in many states are tainted by partisan politics and Gerrymandering. We should leave the job of drawing up congressional and legislative districts to independent, non-partisan (or bipartisan) commissions. No party should be able to draw up districts to rig the game in their favor simply because they control a state legislature.

Eliminate the Electoral College System

The candidate who gets more votes should win. That’s about all I have to say about that. For more detailed criticism of the Electoral College system you can click here.