Voting and Democracy

Lincoln said it: “government of the People, By the People and For the People”. The People means everyone, rich and poor, white, black, brown red and yellow, male, female, LGBTQ and cis-gendered. Following this strictly ensures that the People get the government they deserve, for good or ill. It means we should be self-governed, and that our government is working “for” us — on our behalf. There are only a few conditions I would place on a democratic (i.e. majority rule) government, only one (1, below) of which was addressed (and only obliquely) in the existing US Constitution:

  1. That the rights of minorities should not be trodden by the majority
  2. That any monopoly on power — military, economic, or informational, either governmental or private/corporate — be explicitly eliminated and systemically/structurally prevented.
  3. That national boundaries are essentially fictitious, and that the ruling principles of individual rights and responsibility should be applied universally, both inside and outside those boundaries
  4. That the rights of human beings are balanced against the rights of all life, animal and plant, with the explicit understanding that humans live in a web of life that requires complexity and balance. Frankly speaking, this means there are ecological prices we should NOT pay to save human lives, much less comfort and convenience.

But First Things First: any true democracy must adhere to certain basic principles of inclusion, equality, fairness, and accuracy. The following are important ways to ensure this.

Count Every Person

  • Properly fund and enforce the census. 
  • Extend the deadline for completion of the census under well-defined, extraordinary circumstances, such as pandemic, natural disaster, war, or political tampering.
  • Eliminate disincentives for individuals to be counted in the census (e.g. loss of privacy, arrest, incarceration, or deportation)

Register Every Legal Voter

  • Automatically register voters when they get their driver’s license, state ID, social security card, or other form of identification, or when they apply for public assistance, or enlist in the military.
  • Allow election-day voter registration, with suitable authenticity checks

Ensure the Authenticity of Voters

  • Create a secure and verifiable way (biometric?) to positively verify voter identity
  • Secure the voter database using an encrypted blockchain
  • Institute a reliable system for preventing voter frauds such as double-voting, representing another voter without their explicit approval, or voting on behalf of a dead person or other non-voter

Make it Possible for Everyone to Vote

  • Require states to distribute postage-paid, mail-in ballots to all registered voters
  • Set a generous, minimum timeframe for early voting
  • Make Election Day a 2- or 3-day national holiday
  • Make it mandatory for companies to allow workers at least one of those days off to vote
  • Allow voters to vote at any location, using verifiable identification methods with centralized database management to ensure they don’t vote multiple times.
  • Grant voting rights to citizens accused or convicted of a crime
  • ? Require every citizen to vote, with a nominal fine for non-voting (this works in Australia)
  • ? Lower the minimum voting age to 16 (Can drive. Can be tried as an adult.). 
  • Require standardized civics education and testing as qualification for voters under the age of 21.

Accurately Capture Voter Preference

  • Institute mandatory rank-choice voting (RVC) in both primary and final elections for all national and state elected positions
  • Make it illegal to require a commitment to a party preference for the right to vote in primaries

Ensure All Votes are Counted Accurately and Completely

  • Keep a physical record of every vote
  • Require physical (re-)counting of votes for close elections
  • Make voting mandatory, with nominal fines for non-voting
  • Secure electronic voting, vote counting and reporting, and other voting mechanisms through methods that are both state-of-the-art and transparent (encrypted blockchain?)
  • Enforce strict laws — including incarceration — punishing individuals and organizations that participate in voter fraud, vote tampering, or election obstruction. 
  • Prevent publication and acknowledgement of election results until the count is complete and accurate, regardless of how long that takes… extend deadline if necessary.

Grant Statehood to all citizens who want it

  • Make the District of Columbia a State
  • Hold referenda in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Territories and the US Pacific Territories
  • Offer proportional representation in the House and Senate
  • Count votes toward federal elected positions such as President
  • Withhold federal supports (social security, medicare/medicaid, etc.) for territories that elect to remain independent

Make all votes count equally in national elections

  • Eliminate the Electoral College
  • Select all federal positions according to the popular vote
  • Incorporate the votes of all citizens, including those in D.C. and the US Territories

Eliminate election tampering by executive, legislative or judicial branches

  • Define the roles of sitting officials as ceremonial, rather than decision-making
  • Clarify the definition of tampering, insurrection, and treason, and structure the prosecution and penalties for violations

Ensure fair and equal representation in Congress

  • Eliminate Gerrymandering
  • Set the size of districts to the size of the smallest state population (currently WY). 
  • Allow national election districts to cross state boundaries, when necessary to equalize voting power. 
  • Redraw Federal congressional district maps, starting with Federal congressional districts, using an objective algorithm that can be universally applied that equalizes the impact of every vote to the extent practical, that is based on geography and is blind to political party, race, religion, and socio-economic class. 
  • Eventually require this for State and Local elections.
  • Grant statehood to D.C. and the US Territories

Democratize the Senate

  • Change the size and balance of representation in the Senate. To start: one per state, plus one for each “n = census/100” citizens to create a total of 150 Senators
    • Eventually: one for smallest state(s), one more for each increment of that population in each state.
  • Shorten rotating Senate term length from 6 years to 4 years

Reform the Supreme Court

  • Increase the size of the court to reflect population growth since the last expansion
  • Define the qualifications of a Supreme Court Justice
  • Establish overlapping terms of office (18 years?) at 2-year intervals, with two terms beginning in each presidential term. 
  • Mandate retirement for justices at age 80(?)
  • Mandate consideration of presidential appointments within 3 months
  • Mandate recusal of justices in cases where there is a potential conflict of interest, either financial or personal. Clarify the definition of “conflict of interest” to avoid delays and debate.
  • Establish a well-defined code of behavior and rules for the impeachment and removal of justices due to judicial malfeasance