Think this is pointless? Do you feel like there’s no better method than our current election model, no other way?
Outlined below is one plan for serious reform. This is by no means the only solution or the best, but it’s light years ahead of the status quo. Hopefully this gets people thinking and moving in a better direction.
Forget 3rd party candidates who cannot achieve critical mass. Forget the entire party-based system. Not enough citizens can agree on which straw-man to support. Existing parties cater to corruption. Additional parties only dilute our voting power. We need a new electoral system which does not give rise to puppets. Demand a candidate who is not selected by committees meeting behind closed doors, but openly and transparently endorsed by all of us.
Our nation has implemented extensive social networks, criminal registries, and computerized surveys. Clearly we have the means to build a national website which handles any number of candidates. It cannot be driven by funding, except insofar as paid advertising may succeed in shifting public opinion. America must create a unified open-source hack-resistant FBI-protected and citizen-audited online system to select a Presidential candidate OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE.
The proposed online system must provide transparency by the following methods:
- Itemize current voting issues, measuring public feedback for each
- Display each candidate’s position with respect to these issues
- Highlight statistical best-fit candidates in accord with public demand
CAMPAIGN PRIMARY: Identifying frontrunners
As its first result the system must compute a weighted “relevance” for each candidate, including the ability to drill down and review itemized percentages of votes amassed for and against each core issue and granular subtopic identified by the system. No fewer than 5 top-scoring candidates must be presented as winners of the primary, with the cutoff made at the widest gap in relevance found among candidates 5 through 10, upon the date of the primary.
GENERAL ELECTION: Unifying support
Each week, reset the system voting records to zero and host a realtime contest among the primary candidates. Let live debates and town-hall meetings be presented via realtime streaming webcasts, with the leading candidate facing off against lesser adversaries until [s/he] is able to sustain a full majority vote. The first two weeks in a row when the same candidate receives >= 50% of the votes, decides the winner and closes the electoral process.
POST-ELECTION: Monitoring accountability
With each piece of legislation, or veto, or executive order signed by the elected President, and with each speech, foreign diplomatic mission, or other public act, the President’s decisions and conduct must be subject to review and measurement. A timeline would be constructed, of Presidential actions for and against the political positions endorsed during the campaign. The weighted impact of those actions would result in a “performance” score which overrides any “relevance” scores for the subsequent primary. Meaning, each candidate will likely be voted out in the next term unless they have executed their responsibilities as promised.