Elections
Return to Common Sense
March 24, 2013
Section: Domestic
– Elections
“Government must
return to its roots of term limited citizen legislature, with simpler and
easier elections, governing from their home districts, and voter identification
guaranteed with overseas servicemen’s votes counted.”
“The right to vote
freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a
democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of
representative government.” Earl Warren.
Philosophy
(Background, Issues, Objectives):
Government was designed to serve the people.
- Politicians were
assumed to be citizen representatives (no professional politicians).
- Civilian
representatives brought diversity and business knowledge to government.
- Election campaigns
have become longer and more expensive.
- Excessive focus
on re-election detracts from serving the public.
Constitution 17th Amendment
(1912) changed Senator selection from state
legislature to direct popular election.
·
Amendment changed the first paragraph of Article I,
Section 3 of the Constitution to provide that each state's senators are to be
"elected by the people thereof"
rather than being "chosen by the
Legislature thereof."
·
State legislature selection was intended to
maintain balance between federal and state governments power.
Electoral College is an anachronism designed
to protect states rights and power.
- Electoral college was designed to maintain the balance between
state power and direct democracy based on pure number of votes.
- Each state is
separate election with winner getting all the votes.
- Candidates can
win Electoral College vote while not winning total popular vote.
In the 112th Congress the
occupation that dominates is lawyers, attracting those who practice law into a
profession in charge of making laws.
- In the House,
most members come from business, followed by public service, then law.
- In the Senate,
the dominant profession is law, followed by politics, also called
“public service.”
- In the Senate,
half have previous service in the House.
- In the House and
Senate, 81 members were educators, 17 were doctors, one veterinarian, one
ophthalmologist, and one psychiatrist.
Government officials have lost their
credibility with the American public.
- Congressman and
lawyers are ranked very low in honesty and ethics.
- Congressional
Record is a rewritten history of what Members wanted to say.
- Presidential
signing statements have been used for 150 years to explain positions on
the relevant issues.
Congress works an abbreviated work week:
·
Congress meets on Tuesday evening and full days on
Wednesday and Thursday.
o
Congress meeting on Monday or Friday is an
exception.
o
Monday and Friday are reserved to allow travel back
and forth to home districts.
·
Congress takes district work periods in March, May,
June/July, August, and December.
·
Resolutions have been submitted to
create a “virtual Congress” where lawmakers would leverage
videoconferencing and other remote work technology to conduct daily duties in
Washington from their home districts.
Political party candidate selection has
become excessively expensive and time consuming.
- Primaries begin
two years before the election.
o
The succession of state primaries is very
expensive.
§
Candidates can choose to campaign or not on a state
by state basis.
o
It is estimated that $5 billion will be spent on
the 2008 presidential and congressional election cycle.
o
It is estimated that $1 billion will be spent on
the two presidential nominees alone.
- 2002
McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) was designed to
remove large donor influence.
o
Large donors used 527 organizations to channel
contributions to target politicians.
o
Seven of the Top 10 political contributors are
labor unions and predominantly Democrat.
o
2005 only 9% of filers elected to support the
Presidential Election Campaign Fund.
o
BCRA reforms aimed at political
parties did not limit money but rather scatter it throughout the
system.
o
Due to the differences between the
two political parties in America, the BCRA dispersion of finances tends to
benefit Democrats because their political culture includes more allied groups
who benefit from a distributional big bang.
Term limits have been instituted in
several states.
- At present, 36
state have term limits of various types for their governors
- In South Dakota
state legislative term limits passed in 1992, reaffirmed by wider margin
in 2008.
- Term limits were
at issue in various cities and counties in California, Colorado, Florida,
Pennsylvania, and Texas.
- In localities
ranging from State College, Pennsylvania to Tracy, California and Memphis,
Tennessee, voters approved term limits by two-to-one margins.
- Eight of the ten
largest U.S. cities now have term limits.
Participation in national elections is
around 50% of eligible voters.
- Many American
voters are unfamiliar with the candidate positions and promises.
- The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) set a deadline for states to have
a statewide voter registration list and list verification procedures.
o
Voter fraud has been caught haphazardly as no
identification requirement impedes enforcement.
Redistricting of election boundaries has
resulted in artificial districts.
·
James
Madison in Federalist No. 55 said that the number of representatives will be
augmented from time to time in the manner provided by the Constitution.
o
Originally the size of the House was adjusted every
10 years based on census results.
o
Public Law 62-5,
1911, set the number of members of the House of Representatives at 435.
o
Today each representative represents over 700,000
people.
·
Gerrymandering based on the 1965 Voting
Rights Act redraws voting maps to deliver safe political districts, election
after election.
o
The U.S. Supreme
Court had interpreted the relevant provision (Section 2) as applying only where
it was possible to create a majority-black district when whites had been
demonstrably voting as a bloc to deny black voters an equal opportunity to
elect the candidates of their choice.
o
Boundaries defined to artificially combine uniform
voting constituents.
o
Voting districts do not conform between local and
municipal government boundaries.
o
Gerrymandering has defined voting districts that
are uniform and deliver “automatic”
voting results.
o
An unintended consequence of gerrymandering is a
suppressed voter turnout since the result is “rigged.”
In 1965, the Voter Rights Act was
enacted to combat racial discrimination that denied equal access to voting.
- The VRA now requires
racial discrimination in the name of guaranteeing effective voting
by certain preferred minorities (blacks and Hispanics), because of
judicial interpretations and legislative amendments.
- Effectiveness is
understood as successful racial or ethnic bloc voting, with success
understood as electing members of those blocs.
- Proof of
citizenship requirements have been struck down as discriminatory in
Georgia.
- This 45-year-old “emergency”
provision has been renewed four separate times, most recently in 2006.
- The 2006 renewal gave the section 25 years
of new life, despite a complete lack of evidence that the type of systematic
discrimination that led to its initial passage still exists.
- Voter ID initiatives helped
to prevent fraudulent voting, but also did NOT reduce turnout.
o
In Georgia, black voter turnout for the midterm
election in 2006 was 42.9% but after Georgia passed photo ID, black turnout in
the 2010 midterm rose to 50.4%.
o
In Georgia, Hispanic/Latino voter turnout
increased by 66.5%.
o
Black turnout also rose in Indiana and
Mississippi after photo IDs were required.
Both major political parties sponsor
voter registration efforts.
- Recent illegal election practice convictions have been
overwhelmingly Democrats.
o
Chicago Democrats have a long history of stolen
votes since the 1980’s.
o
In 1984 the case was publicized where for 14 years
Brooklyn Democrat politicians operated a successful voting-fraud ring
responsible for thousands of fraudulent votes.
o
In 2007 a voting rights lawsuit in Noxubee, MS shut
down a Democrat scheme to guarantee elections by fraudulently voting using dead
and moved voters.
- Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) is a leftist political group
which has been caught numerous times turning in fraudulent voter
registrations.
o
ACORN has never tried to hide that it was a Democrat voting and advocacy
organization.
§ ACORN has been accused of providing
liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from the
targets of demonstrations through a mob-style "protection" racket.
o
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Government Reform published a paper that both documented ACORN's widespread
criminal activities, and determined that appropriate legal remedies for this
criminal organization include applying the RICO statutes to seize their assets:
§
ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged
in self dealing, and aided and abetted a cover-up of the $948.607.50
embezzlement by Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN
founder Wade Rathke.
§
ACORN has committed investment fraud, deprived the
public of its right to honest services, and engaged in a racketeering
enterprise affecting interstate commerce.
§
ACORN has committed a conspiracy to defraud the
United States by using taxpayer funds for partisan political activities.
§
ACORN has submitted false filings to the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor, in addition to violating the
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
§
ACORN falsified and concealed facts concerning an
illegal transaction between related parties in violation of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
o At least 55 ACORN
employees and individuals associated with ACORN have been convicted of voter
fraud.
§ Voter fraud is a blanket term
coined by lawyers to refer to fraudulent voting, identity fraud, perjury, voter
registration fraud, forgery, and a variety of crimes in related to the electoral
process in 11 states.
§ In Pennsylvania, official
are investigating ACORN for filing fraudulent voter registrations and one ACORN
worker is facing 19 counts of perjury for making false statements.
§ In Ohio there were four
counties where voter registration exceeded the number of voting-age people in
the counties.
§ In Michigan, ACORN enrolled
200,000 voters and a sizable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications.
§ In Wisconsin election
officials turned in 32 more voter registration workers to the district
attorney’s office for possible prosecution, bringing the total to 39.
§ In Colorado, ACORN
registered some individuals 40 separate times.
§ In Nevada, nearly 1,000
felons were illegally registered to vote in 2004.
§ The Clark County, Nevada,
registrar claims that there has been rampant fraud, and counts roughly 40% of
registration applications submitted by ACORN from January through July had been
rejected or questioned.
§ In Washington State, felony
charges were brought against ACORN workers and some went to jail.
o
FBI has initiated a Racketeer Influenced
and Corrupt Organization (RICO) investigation into the series of ACORN voting
abuses as a criminal enterprise.
§
Employees who did not meet quota of 20 new voters
daily were fired.
§
ACORN considered 40% an acceptable level of
accurate registrations turned in.
§
ACORN briefed workers how to deny that voter
registration fraud existed.
§
Of 1.3 million new registrations ACORN turned in in
2008, election officials rejected 400,000.
·
The Secretary of State Project is a left-wing funded
“527” political committee to elect Democrat state candidates.
o
The
purpose of the SoS Project is to place partisan
results in front of political integrity and clean, honest elections.
o
A
"527" political committee can accept unlimited financial
contributions and doesn't have to disclose publicly until after the election.
o
The
SoS Project, which has raised at least $170,836 in
this election cycle, is an officially approved Democracy Alliance grantee.
·
Military voters have long been disenfranchised, both at the
state and federal level, by a voting process that fails to recognize the unique
challenges created by a military voter's transitory existence or the delays
associated with delivering an absentee ballot to a war zone halfway around the
world.
o
All
military personnel and their dependents, as well as overseas citizens, are
guaranteed the right to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections by the
Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
o
In
2010, only 4.6% of eligible military voters were able to cast anb absentee ballot that was counted in the 2010 election.
·
Australia passed mandatory voting by registered voters in
federal elections.
Principles:
No more professional politicians.
- Limit the impact
of money in campaigning.
Voting is a national service obligation
by each citizen.
- Voters must
remain knowledgeable about the country and its issues.
- Voters need to
feel their vote counts above party politics.
Recommendations:
Short
Term, Reengineer election process to be more
representative and more participative.
·
Redefine voting as civic obligation.
o
Require unique voter identification to ensure
citizens only vote once.
o
Enact tax incentive (credit) to encourage voting
participation.
- Utilize electronic voting machines for rapid, accurate results,
with electronic voting accepted.
o
Enable electronic e-voting to enable citizens to
vote remotely (via internet).
o Ensure
all valid absentee ballots are counted.
- Individual states must enforce their own election requirements.
o
Require all voters to
present photographic identification, issued by the federal, state, or local
government, when they vote at their polling place, or to send copies of such
identification when submitting an absentee ballot.
o
Require all individuals
who register to vote to provide documentation establishing that they are United
States citizens.
o
Require state and local
election officials to verify the accuracy of new voter registration information
against other available state and federal databases.
o
Require an individual who
registers by mail to vote in person the first time they vote.
o
Require all individuals
who register to vote through the use of mail-in forms, whether they are mailed
back to election officials or hand-delivered by the individual or third-party
organizations, to comply with the applicable HAVA provision.
o
Require all third-party
organizations (like ACORN) that conduct voter registration drives to put the
name of their organization and the volunteer or employee handling each
registration on the voter registration form and require all completed forms to
be returned to election officials by such organizations within ten days of the
date the forms are executed by the voter.
o
Facilitate voting by
overseas members of the military by requiring that all absentee ballots being
sent to UOCAVA voters be mailed at least 45 days prior to the election deadline
or alternatively by express mail or electronic means so the ballots will be
received by voters in time to be returned.
o
Require all state courts
to notify election officials when individuals whose names are drawn from the
registration rolls are excused from jury duty because they claim they are not
U.S. citizens or no longer live in the jurisdiction.
o
Require the state to
enter into agreements with other states, especially neighboring states, to
compare voter registration lists to find voters who are registered in more than
one state.
o
Prosecute election fraud to the fullest extent of
the law.
- Designate Military Offices as Voter Registration Agencies.
o
Develop systems allowing servicemen overseas the
ability to vote electronically and their votes counted back in their home
districts.
- Repeal the Voting Rights Act since this emergency (5 year) provision has achieved its
desired effect and has morphed into a partisan gerrymandering provision.
- Increase House to about 600 representatives, each representing an
average of 500,000 citizens.
o Base
representation on number of legal citizens based
on U.S. Census.
o Redistrict
conforming as nearly as possible to state or local government boundaries.
§
Redistrict design based on Minimal distance to
district center or zip codes.
o Return
voting rights to criminals after they complete their sentences, parole and
probation.
- Enable Senators and Representatives to govern
from their home districts.
o Enable
electronic voting to allow remote participation from their home state and
district.
o Schedule
five day workweek enabled with remote teleconferencing and voting access.
o Each
Member must certify that they actually read and understand the proposed legislation.
Long Term, Ensure Congress composed of citizen
legislators.
·
Enact Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits for all federal political offices (12 years max).
o
No more than two full four year terms (10 years
max) for President.
o
No more than five full two year terms (10 years
max) for Congress.
o
No more than two six year terms (12 years max) for
Senators.
o
Restrict lawyers from serving in office in the
legislative branch of government.
o
Enact a lifetime ban on any elected official at the
state or federal level from ever being a professional lobbyist.
·
Repeal the 17th Amendment, returning Senator selection to the state
legislatures to ensure state representation in Congress.
- Conduct nationwide Presidential primary(s) available to all states.
o Primaries
would be a rotating series of regional primaries.
·
Eliminate direct campaign
contributions
o
Repeal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
(BCRA) passed in 2002 as structurally unfair.
o
Require all campaign contributions made to general
campaign fund, distributed by the government based on predetermined spending
limit.
o Lobbyists
are forbidden from direct candidate contributions.
o Each
candidate would be restricted to a fixed amount of government money for
campaigns.
·
Enact Constitutional Amendment to authorize a Presidential
federal line item veto to limit “earmark” and
“pork” projects.
·
Enact Constitutional Amendment to extend concept of Recall to members of Congress, both representatives and senators.
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“The 17th
Amendment Revisited” by Thomas E. Brewton dated July 6, 2010
published by The Land of the Free at http://www.thelandofthefree.net/conservativeopinion/2010/07/06/the-17th-amendment-revisited/
.
“Gerrymandering:
The Motion Picture” by Christian Toto dated November 2, 2010
published by Pajamas Media at http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gerrymandering-the-motion-picture/
.
“Soros
Voter Counters” by Matthew Vadum dated
November 2, 2010 published by The American Spectator at http://spectator.org/archives/2010/11/02/soros-vote-counters
.
“Size
matters, lawsuit says of U.S. House” by Gregory Korte
dated December 13, 2010 published by USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-12-13-Why435Congress13_ST_N.htm
.
“A
House poorly divided” by Jeff Jacoby dated December 28, 2010
published by The Boston Globe at http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/12/26/a_house_poorly_divided/
.
“Abusing
the Voting Rights Act” by Hans A. Von Spakovsky
dated February 23, 2011 published by National review Online at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/260303/abusing-voting-rights-act-hans-von-spakovsky
.
“Understanding
the Sacrifices of Our Men and Women in Uniform and the Importance of Protecting
Their Rights at Home” by Edmund P. Giambastiani,
Jr. dated July 19, 2011 published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Lecture/2011/08/Understanding-Sacrifices-of-Our-Men-Women-in-Uniform-Importance-Protecting-Their-Rights-at-Home
.
“A Case
Against Mandatory Voting” by Fred L. Smith dated July 25, 2011
published by The American Spectator at http://spectator.org/archives/2011/07/25/case-against-mandatory-voting
.
“Sentencing
ACORN” by Matthew Vadum dated August 18,
2011 published by Front Page Magazine at http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/18/sentencing-acorn/
.
“New State Voting Laws: Barriers to the Ballot” by Hans von Spakovsky dated September 27, 2011 published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Testimony/2011/09/New-State-Voting-Laws-Barriers-to-the-Ballot .
“The Lawyers Rule” by Alan Caruba dated September 29, 2011 published by Canada Free Press at http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/40829 .
“Why
Americans Support Voter ID Laws” by Jack Kelly dated December 27,
2011 published by Real Clear Politics at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/27/why_americans_support_voter_id_laws_112546.html
.
“ACORN
Is Up to Its Old Tricks” by Charles C.W. Cooke dated February 2, 2012
published by National Review Online at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289924/acorn-its-old-tricks-charles-c-w-cooke
.
“Lessons from the Voter ID Experience in Georgia” by Hans von Spakovsky dated March 19, 2012 published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/03/lessons-from-the-voter-id-experience-in-georgia .
“The
Left’s National Vote Fraud Strategy Exposed” by James Simpson
dated May 8, 2012 published by Accuracy in Media at http://www.aim.org/special-report/the-lefts-national-vote-fraud-strategy-exposed/
.
“Is It
Time for a Virtual Congress?” by Robert Berry dated November 10, 2012
published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/is_it_time_for_a_virtual_congress.html
.
“Choosing
Senators: How to Rein in Federal Spending” by Jim Yardley dated
February 23, 2013 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/choosing_senators_how_to_rein_in_federal_spending.html
.
“GOP
lawmaker seeks ‘virtual Congress’ with telecommuting plan”
by Jennifer Martinez dated March 22, 2013 published by The Hill at http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/289947-republican-proposes-letting-lawmakers-work-from-home
.
