Electoral College

[kandrathe]

Some interesting ideas Assur.

Would anyone involved in this thread also support mandatory voting?
I would like to see everyone capable of voting exercising that right and privilege but mandatory voting I'm not so sure.  A democracy's strength relies on informed voting.  Mandatory voting might bring a greater percentage of the uninformed into the process.
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I was listening to a radio program this week where they were discussing the voting fraud practiced in old aged homes where many senile and incompetent voters ballots are cast, filled out by the workers in the nursing home. In many states, this counts up to millions of votes.

As for mandatory voting. No. The US doesn't work that way. I think a 5% threshold is too low, and many states like California would have 10-20 candidates. It would not be simple as each state in the union is still sovereign, and can determine its laws independent of the federal system.

As it is, my sample ballot for president looks like;

() David Cobb and Pat LaMarche (Green Party)
() George W. Bush and Dick Cheney (Republican)
() John F. Kerry and John Edwards (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)
() Bill Van Auken and Jim Lawrence (Social Equality)
() Roger Calero and Arrin Hawkins (Socialist Workers)
() Thomas J Harens and Jennifer A. Ryan (Christian Freedom)
() Ralph Nader and Peter Miguel Camejo (Better Life)
() Michael Peroutka and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution)
() Micheal Badnarik and Richard Campagna (Libertarian)

It is hard enough to get anyone to seriously consider term limits or campaign finance reform, so I doubt any of what we are talking about would amount to more than pipe smoke.