<< **EVERYBODY who wants to vote gets to vote. Polls don't close until everybody votes. >>
Not sure how this can work in practice (who determines when that last person has voted? Jeb Bush?) but here are some alternatives:
** Absentee voting on demand.
** Alternative polling places, open up to two weeks before Election Day, placed in city halls and other centrally-located areas and open on weekends, right up to the Saturday before Election Day.
** Election Day a paid 24-hour holiday.
And there's a model: All of this exists in Hawaii. It's still a notoriously low-turnout state, but then a lot of people hit the beach on Election Day. (I can't imagine Ohioans hauling their boogieboards to Lake Erie in November.)
And in the long run (when we, or the United States, whichever comes first, are dead):
** To hell with this states' rights crap. Federalization of all elections. Standardization of machines, polling hours, recount procedures, etc., with full and adequate funding. Still allow local officials to administer them, though, because they're usually pretty good and they need the money.
We should probably wait for a better federal climate, of course--we really wouldn't want the Bushies taking us up on it. But the dirty little open secret of Gore v. Bush (or was that Bush v. Gore? I can never remember) is that equal voting procedures really are a legitimate due process issue. Slimy but smart for the Rehnquisition not to establish a precedent.
** Voting rights for resident aliens or any non-citizen here on full-time work status. Certainly should include anyone otherwise subject to a draft.
** Voting rights for ex-felons. Hell, why not current prisoners, too.
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: joanna bujes <jbujes at covad.net> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 15:26:39 -0800
>Yeah, I mean this would have to be the first step, wouldn't it:
>
>**Automatic universal registration. Challenges to be made no later than
>six months before an election. Otherwise, if you have ID and are over
>18, you can vote.
>
>**Auditable voting.
>
>**EVERYBODY who wants to vote gets to vote. Polls don't close until
>everybody votes.
>
>AND, if you need a "fringe" issue
>
>**Proportional representation.
>
>These are all basic democratic demands.
>
>Joanna
>
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