Election 2004 information page

Breaking! "A Diebold Insider Speaks"

NEW! "What Went Wrong in Ohio?"

It's time we put our nation back on the road to democracy.* 

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

"... whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

       We've always had trouble in the United States with our election system because we gerrymander our districts, pour billions of dollars into our campaigns, and use a winner-take-all vote counting procedure that frequently puts someone that barely half the people approve of into office.  And since the election of 2000 we have become aware of  issues with badly designed ballots, malformed chads, and touch screen machines that mysteriously consume or produce votes on a whim where the contended votes have literally made or broken a candidate in a race.

            It's your system, citizen.  If you've had enough of this and other bureaucratic  nonsense (like this person has) then it is time to do something about it.  Let's put our nation back on the road to democracy one town, county, and state at a time.  Please contact your federal representatives in the Senate and Congress, governors and state legislators, mayors and city council members and tell them that this system needs an overhaul now.  Write letters to the editor, call into to radio talk shows, have a chat with your neighbors over coffee.

            Get the word out that it's time for a change!

(Fellow Mainers can keep in touch about reform issues via the Maine Citizen Leadeship Fund blog.)

Which of the reform ideas listed below do you feel will help restore democracy to the United States and which ought to be enacted first?*

Vote using Instant Runoff Voting ballot

Vote using Approval Voting ballot

"Since the Fairness Doctrine was abolished, this country has experienced a proliferation of highly partisan news outlets that disseminate unbalanced news coverage. Democracy is built on the idea that the views, beliefs, and values of an informed citizenry provide the best basis for political decision-making."

Bring back the Fairness Doctrine!

No more extra clout for moneyed special interests.  No more elected officials spending more time on the trail fundraising than in their office working for the people who put them there in the first place.  Every candidate should have the same amount of money and airtime so that all are on equal footing rather than subject to the golden rule of "He who has the gold rules".  "The Buying of the President",  Public Campaign, Political Moneyline, and Open Secrets

For example: Pass federal legislation to require each state to enable a new party or any independent candidate to qualify for the ballot through a petition of no greater than 1/10th of 1% of the total vote cast in the district in the last gubernatorial election, with a 10,000 signature maximum. Ballot Access News

Voters can't be expected to vote their conscience without first hearing from all of the valid candidates.  Open Debates

for federal elections, with extended polling hours so that all people who want to vote have the opportunity.  How an election holiday promotes democracy.

It’s time to put an end to gerrymandering and “protecting” incumbents. It's time for the Congress to be a mirror of America's electorate.  "In the 435-member House of Representatives, 123 elected officials earned at least one million dollars last year, according to recently released financial records made public each year.  Next door in the ornate Senate, whose blue-blooded pedigree includes a Kennedy and a Rockefeller, one in three people are millionaires.  By comparison, less than one percent of Americans make seven-figure incomes." (Agence France Press June 30, 2004)

How proportional representation works

The case against it  vs. the case for it

Let's consider reforming the E.C. with proportional awarding of the votes.

3D 2004 Election results map

Voters should be expected to vote their conscience, not for the lesser of two evils. School children are able to put items in order of preference, certainly the electorate can handle doing the same with candidates.

What's wrong with the current system?  

Election Information: Comparing systems

Accurate Democracy voting system assessment

Borda Voting

Condorcet voting

Cumulative Voting

Instant Runoff Voting

Approval Voting

(a ranked voting alternative)

Fusion - also called "cross-endorsement" - allows two or more parties to nominate the same candidate on separate ballot lines. Candidates' votes on each ballot line are added together to determine the overall winner.

Parties ought to consider using ranked voting to select their candidates and primaries ought to be held on the same day across the nation.

*Note: this website does not advocate turning the United States into a true direct democracy, but rather suggests ways to improve the use of democratic principles in our constitutional republic.