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My plan is not entirely mine; I’ve picked up some bits and pieces of these ideas from other pundits as well as other political and non-political figures. But I have decided to put my ideas into a serious plan that one day I personally hope to take to Washington and change the face of the election system which brings us to why were find ourselves here in the first place. I’ve created this web space to express my personal opinions like many others on what I feel we need to change about the process, and by process I mean the way we work and live in politics. I am not a Politician and in no way building a platform to run from. I am however simply trying to convey what I feel I must to help change the system.

Did you know many districts around the country do not count early or absentee voting unless it’s required to know who won? In other words if I ran for office against you and I won by 25000 votes and only 4000 people voted early and absentee then it wouldn’t matter that they voted, because even if they all voted for you I would still win by the numbers. To me this is not only absurd but also offensive. To not count a vote under any circumstance of an individual is just wrong and should be unconstitutional. If any man/woman takes the time to do their “civic duty” and take part in the electoral process then by not counting their vote we are telling them they do not matter. For this reason among others I’d like to present my election plan. This is only the beginning; more will follow.

Step one is to change the constitution and remove the Electoral College which consists of 538 (435 Representatives, 100 Senators and three electors from Washington, DC) popularly elected representatives who formally select the President and Vice President of the United States making our current process an indirect election. Rather than directly voting for the President and Vice President, We the people of the United States (citizens) cast votes for our state allotted electors. These electors then vote on our behalf in the actual Presidential Election and as such are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President. Historically these electors vote for who ever the favored candidate is by aligning their vote with the popular vote of the voters (that’s us).

Most states (With the exception of Maine and Nebraska) allow their votes to be used to pledge their electors by using the “Winner takes all” method which is why you see people talk so much about the states with a large number of Representatives like California. If you win the popular vote their you get all of the Electoral College votes for that state which means you could lose an election without having the national popular vote because I won enough states “that matter.” Maine and Nebraska employ a process known as Congressional District Method which in plain English basically means they don’t have a winner takes all and the electoral votes in those states may not all go to the same candidate.

So this begs the question of relevance to the popular vote. While historically it has not been a problem in general it is a problem. We’ve seen in recent years a Presidential candidate win an election without a popular vote. In the elections of 2000 as well as two previous election in 1876 and 1888 the candidate receiving the nationwide popular vote did not become President. While I admit 3 of 42 elections does not sound that bad (I’d say 43 but George Washington for all accounts ran unopposed in 1789) it is bad, in fact in numbers of percentage it’s around 7% of the time. So in other words the popular vote has lost 7% of all Presidential elections in US history. This is the reason a typical Presidential campaign concentrates only on winning the popular vote in a combination of states that choose a majority of the electors. Which is telling those of you who do not live in those states your vote doesn’t matter.

There is a bit more to the Electoral College system and while numerous constitutional amendments have been submitted seeking its replacement with a direct popular vote, none has ever successfully passed both Houses of Congress. This is a problem, it is our duty as citizens to speak out, if you feel the system isn’t properly representative of your views you should say something to your local state representatives. You may not agree with my plan, and that’s okay with me. Having you think about it is a good start. Is my plan perfect? No. Is my plan simple? For the most part my plan is put down into 2 parts or phases. Phase One deals directly with the November election itself and Phase Two deals with the complexities of the Primary system.

Election Plan Phase One: November Election

• Remove The Electoral Collage
  • I’m sure Thomas Jefferson or Aaron Burr would agree with me on this one.
  • This antiquated system, which itself has already led to one Constitutional Amendment (12) is from a time when this country had an inability to elect a President on truth and flow of information.
• Count Early and Absentee Voting
  • If someone takes the time to vote count it. Period.
  • Many if not all Districts only count early votes if the winner cannot be declared by a margin high enough to include the number of early votes. I don’t care. If they voted and you have the votes. Count them.
• November Election in days not hours.
  • A Central data warehouse is to be created in Washington, DC.
    • This is warehouse is to store all election results from all districts in the country.
    • The data will be updated through secure transmissions from the local districts to a single state holding system which is then tallied and sent to Washington, DC.
  • Voting is to begin the Friday morning after the first Tuesday of November
    • Voting will begin at 5:00:00 am Local Time to your district and time zone
  • Voting is to be concluded the following Monday evening after the voting has begun.
    • Voting will end at 11:59:59 pm Local Time to your district and time zone.
  • Exit Polling is to be illegal. And criminally punishable by fine.
    • We don’t need the Media to bug us while we vote. Not to mention I don’t need to hear their speculations about who is or isn’t winning the election until it’s over.
    • Voter polling may occur during the election season but must end by the Friday morning before the election starts.
    • Polling will be considered illegal if done after 12:00:00 AM Friday of the election voting period. (Local Time to your district and time zone.)
    • Each offense shall be punishable by fine of $100,000.00 USD
      • So if you ask 10 people who they voted for you will be fined $1,000,000.00 USD
      • Monies collected by fines are to be used at the discretion of the municipality in which the offense occurred.
    • Polling may resume 24 hours after the voting period ends.
      • Polling (If the Media still wants to) may occur no earlier than Tuesday at 11:59:59 pm Local Time to your district and time zone.
  • Election results are to be released by the state election committees to the central data warehouse by 1:00pm EST Tuesday after the voting period ends.
    • The Central Data warehouse results containing the election results will be released to the media outlets simultaneously by representative at a press conference held at the White House Press Room at 8:00:00 pm EST.

Election Plan Phase Two: Primaries [In development]

This phase is still being developed. If you have any thoughts as to what you’d like to see changed please let me know. In the meantime here are some preliminary ideas. Much of the voting system is a carbon copy of the plan I created for the November voting process. I will also admit this phase of my plan is a mighty lofty one, much more so than the first phase as it basically negates the RNC and DNC entirely. In other words I have all doubt it will ever come to fruition. It is also far more complex, so I may never finish it, but I intend to try.

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