An Electoral Manifesto
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have been making progress in attracting attention to the issues that the vast majority of Americans view as far more important than those currently being discussed in Congress or the media.
While economic issues are likely to remain at the center of that discussion, and rightly so, accomplishing those goals will require the approval of federal or state legislative and executive branches, which for the past few years have been largely ineffectual at addressing these problems, for a variety of reasons. Achieving the economic reforms demanded by the vast majority of Americans will therefore require either significant legislative participation, or reform, which should follow the current public demonstrations of intent.
Unfortunately, current state legislatures have been enacting reforms that will marginalize voters, by redrawing the electoral map to disenfranchise many participants, especially ethnic minorities, through redistricting, gerrymandering, voter identification requirements and other electoral strategies that allow candidates to increase their chances of getting elected without increasing the number of votes they receive. This is an unconscionable violation of civil liberties, and we cannot pretend we will succeed in our economic goals with intrenched opposition removing or otherwise violating the only method of democratic participation we have at our disposal.
In order to guarantee a representative body will conduct themselves according to the will of the people, the representative body needs to be more accountable to the will of the people; failing that, the representative body should be restricted in its powers to make legislative decisions, with the power returning to the people in a more direct democracy. Elements of both could be implemented simultaneously.
Here are five issues regarding electoral reform that would reduce voter fraud, voter marginalization, lack of participation, apathy, and legislator accountability.
1) Abolish the electoral college
Presidents have been elected several times in opposition to the will of the people, with the electoral college system as the culprit; perhaps the problem with reform is that it is only dealt with every four years, and forgotten in between.
With the only real electoral potential occurring in swing states, it is no wonder so many Americans believe their vote doesn’t count. And they’re right. A liberal voting in Texas or a conservative voting in California might as well stay home.
Abolishing the electoral college would ensure that, through no stretch of the imagination, absolutely every vote would count, and no president could be elected without the express consent of the majority of the population.
Again, ballot initiatives at the state level could be enacted nationwide to abolish the electoral system, or allocate electoral votes based on percentage of votes cast, rather than the disenfranchising winner-take-all approach.
2) Abolish districts
The political map is being redrawn by state legislatures, in a way that will deliberately disenfranchise minority voters and others, to gain an electoral advantage without needing to win any additional votes. Districts with large numbers of people who vote one way will be cut apart to become part of a larger district that votes the other way; being outnumbered in a winner-take-all district means that these formerly significant voting blocks will become utterly irrelevant, as will their votes.
This should be patently unacceptable to the entire American population. Unfortunately, the matter is in the hands of state legislatures, with very little that can be done before the election is run, by which time it will be too late. Legislators will be elected, and when in power will be in a position to further redraw the maps to further disenfranchise voters, and continue to game the system. There will be no break to the cycle until the concept of districts is abolished, eliminating the strategy of redistricting altogether.
An alternative voting method should be implemented: rather than a voter casting a vote for the supported candidate from that district, voters could be allowed to vote for all candidates they support; the top several candidates (two for the Senate, and variable according to population for Representatives) will become the legislators of that state. State lines will be infinitely harder to redraw than voting districts, and redistricting will become a thing of the past.
3) Vote by mail
Voter participation hovers around 38% in non-presidential elections, rising to about 55% in presidential election years, whereas Oregon’s recently enacted vote by mail initiative pulls in 70% of voters, with a guaranteed paper trail, and packaging designed to maximize voter anonymity.
With several states enacting reforms requiring proof of citizenship to vote and other methods to block voter participation, this should be demanded nationwide, and depending on the state, could very well be enacted through petitions and ballot initiatives, perhaps in some cases in time for the upcoming 2012 election.
Voting is, unfortunately, our only current (and legal) method of legislative participation. We should be outraged when even a single person has that right taken away.
4) Expand legislation by referendum
It should be well understood by all Americans that we do not have a democracy, but a republic, by which an elected body decides on the laws that affect all Americans. Unfortunately, this virtually guarantees discrepancies between the will of the people and the voting patterns of the representative body. The check and balance system has failed; voting is insufficient for the government to be accountable to the will of the people, and on significant issues regarding nationwide legislation with serious impact, the American public should be empowered to make more of these decisions.
The specific areas in which to allow vote by referendum should be debated, rather than categorically given to one side or another, to maintain the existence of checks and balances.
5) Enact or expand legislator recall privileges
In the age of digital mass media, there is little reason if any to think we should have to wait two to four years of our lives to affect the political system. Such staggered participation guarantees legislators a lengthy period by which they can make decisions without being held accountable until, in some cases, four years after the decisions.
Expanding (or creating) the powers of legislator recall would immediately impact the political system, with voters capable of removing Senators, Representatives and others from office without having to wait a quarter decade to do so. This would increase public participation in the political system, and make legislators immediately accountable for their behavior in Congress.
Specifically, a system should be implemented to allow such a recall; gathering petitioned signatures, the required quantity dependent on a percentage of votes cast for the legislator, followed by a snap election, would allow for such immediately effective changes in office to reflect more accurately the will of the people.
Legislator recall law should only be determined by public vote, and judicial approval regarding legality, so that no legislator can impact the laws regarding his or her office tenure.
