Voters' Bill of Rights

[damondonion]

America needs a Voters' Bill of Rights, i.e. something to eliminate the worst abuses of our system and allow the ordinary citizen to think there might be some point to voting in elections; what we have now is vanishingly close to a one-party system. A minimal list of items I'd like to have in such a list would be:

• 1. The most major item: Runoff Elections. Nobody should ever fear to vote his first choice, at least on a first ballot, and nobody should ever hold any public office with less than 50% of the vote.
• 2. A "None of the Above" choice on all elections for public office. And whenever this None of the Above" choice wins, the other candidates should be barred for life from running for public offices and the parties which sponsored them should be barred from running anybody for that particular office for 20 years, i.e. until the entire leadership echelons of the parties have turned over. The penalty for sponsoring dead wood for public office should be horrific.
• 3. An outright guarantee against vote fraud and horrific penalties for it. To me this means that somehow or other, individual votes have to be traceable.
• 4. Candidates for public office beyond some level should be required to pass at least a secret and possibly a TS security check like anybody else who ever handles classified information. The idea of somebody like Slick KKKlinton, who clearly could not pass the simplest such test to be a guard at the gate of any military base being POTUS is basically obscene. This would also prevent the William Jeffersons and Marion Barrys from holding public offices.
• 5. An update to the impeachment process: if a president is ever impeached and removed, his vice president goes out the door with him, and the office is handed over to the oldest person of his party in the US Senate on condition that he never run for the office again. Nobody should profit from their own misdeeds or failings; likewise it should not be easy to remove a president, but it should not be impossible either, and if we were not able to remove Slick, we wouldn't have been able to remove Hitler or Mussolini either. Trent Lott rightly refused to hand the presidency and the incumbency over to Algor with a year to go on Slick's final term; nonetheless the clown needed to go, badly.

[Uncle Ike]

1. Only persons who are eligible to vote for a candidate should be permitted to donate money to the campaign of that candidate.

3. Polling in all forms should be outlawed, to minimize the influence of Media on elections...

[damondonion]

Thanks, and excellent.

[mysterio]

Nobody should ever fear to vote his first choice

I don't. I have a narrow plank that I will vote for. That plank is a strict originalist who embraces smaller, less intrusive government.

[kingu]

# 1. The most major item: Runoff Elections. Nobody should ever fear to vote his first choice, at least on a first ballot, and nobody should ever hold any public office with less than 50% of the vote.

Runoff elections only support the same compromise choices that win the main elections, and further dilutes the desires of those who are seeking to increase their influence. You've got one vote, you cast it, in private, and the idea of endless ballots is just stupid.

# 2. A "None of the Above" choice on all elections for public office. And whenever this None of the Above" choice wins, the other candidates should be barred for life from running for public offices and the parties which sponsored them should be barred from running anybody for that particular office for 20 years, i.e. until the entire leadership echelons of the parties have turned over. The penalty for sponsoring dead wood for public office should be horrific.

So the goal here is to destroy all political parties and eliminate the guarantee of free association that's in the bill of rights?

# 3. An outright guarantee against vote fraud and horrific penalties for it. To me this means that somehow or other, individual votes have to be traceable.

Being secure in your vote that it is anonymous and untraceable is a long standing tradition of democracies. If a vote is traceable, the knowledge of that vote will be abused. I fired him because he voted Democrat. Already you have cases on suspicion of that, why make it worse with confirmation?

# 4. Candidates for public office beyond some level should be required to pass at least a secret and possibly a TS security check like anybody else who ever handles classified information. The idea of somebody like Slick KKKlinton, who clearly could not pass the simplest such test to be a guard at the gate of any military base being POTUS is basically obscene. This would also prevent the William Jeffersons and Marion Barrys from holding public offices.

Obviously you've never gone through a security check, nor worked in an environment where such a clearance was required. Such checks only come up with obvious and unquestionable issues, not random suppositions or accusations that actually affect the clearance. See the recent case of treason by someone who faked documents to spy for Hamas.

# 5. An update to the impeachment process: if a president is ever impeached and removed, his vice president goes out the door with him, and the office is handed over to the oldest person of his party in the US Senate on condition that he never run for the office again. Nobody should profit from their own misdeeds or failings; likewise it should not be easy to remove a president, but it should not be impossible either, and if we were not able to remove Slick, we wouldn't have been able to remove Hitler or Mussolini either. Trent Lott rightly refused to hand the presidency and the incumbency over to Algor with a year to go on Slick's final term; nonetheless the clown needed to go, badly.

President Strom Thrumond. Guess that kinda ends that thought, huh?

[ReignOfError]

1. The most major item: Runoff Elections. Nobody should ever fear to vote his first choice, at least on a first ballot, and nobody should ever hold any public office with less than 50% of the vote.

Depends on what "vote" you're talking about. For most offices, you need a majority, and there are runoffs, For the presidency of the US, you need a majority -- of the electoral college.

A "None of the Above" choice on all elections for public office. And whenever this None of the Above" choice wins, the other candidates should be barred for life from running for public offices and the parties which sponsored them should be barred from running anybody for that particular office for 20 years

In other words, Bobby Jindal should not have been allowed to run for governor of Louisiana as a Republican. Because David Duke ran as a Republican against Edwin Edwards, a Democrat, for that office and most Louisianans would have voted "none of the above" if offered that option.

Toss out freedom of speech. Toss out freedom of association. We need laws to tell us for whom we may or may not vote. This is starting to smell a lot like the "elections" staged by Stalin or Saddam.

An outright guarantee against vote fraud and horrific penalties for it. To me this means that somehow or other, individual votes have to be traceable.

Da, Tovarisch, I will duly register my votes with the local politburo. Are you kidding me with this?

An update to the impeachment process: if a president is ever impeached and removed, his vice president goes out the door with him, and the office is handed over to the oldest person of his party in the US Senate on condition that he never run for the office again.

When you finish your wholesale rewrite of the Consitution, would you please let us know where we can read it?

Aside from being unconstitutional, that's insane. Sweet mother. Your prescription, if Clinton had been removed from office, would have given us President Robert Byrd. If Bush 43 had been impeached and removed a few years ago, it would have given us President Strom Thurmond. Do we really want to troll for presidents in the Alzheimer's ward?

[damondonion]

Da, Tovarisch, I will duly register my votes with the local politburo. Are you kidding me with this?

We no longer live in Peyton Place or the company town. We live in a litigeous society in which people cannot be fired for being grossly overweight, gay, or anything else, what sort of a field day do you think lawyers would have if somebody ever got fired for voting the wrong way? Moreover I did not say that the info should be free on the internet, only that it should be traceable.

If you have some better way to prevent the rats from stealing elections, let's hear it. I'm tired of seeing gubernatorial elections lost this way. The latest abomination in Washington state leaves the idea of a 100% "secret ballot" pretty much indefensible.

[damondonion]

# 2. A "None of the Above" choice on all elections for public office. And whenever this None of the Above" choice wins, the other candidates should be barred for life from running for public offices and the parties which sponsored them should be barred from running anybody for that particular office for 20 years, i.e. until the entire leadership echelons of the parties have turned over. The penalty for sponsoring dead wood for public office should be horrific.

So the goal here is to destroy all political parties and eliminate the guarantee of free association that's in the bill of rights?

The goal is to eliminate elections which look like SlicKKK KKKlinton vs Bob Dole or George H.W. Bush, i.e. two super losers.

[Caipirabob]

You simply cannot have a "traceable" ballot. Securing the identification of voters, prior to the vote I would heartily agree with. It's essential in order to protect the validity of each citizen's vote to ensure that they are not cancelled out by fraudulent efforts. The penalties should be harsh for such fraud, even requiring mandatory jail time for blantent fraud.

However identifying a vote with a voter is dangerous to our Republic.

This is one of the issues that made the recent union thug bill in congress so dangerous. The unions wanted to be able to see how every union member voted. Opened the door to union intimidation of the vote.

Now who would you trust more under those circumstances? The union or the Democrats? Heh...he shoots, he scores...

[Mark was here]

Voters should set the example of accountability for those chosen to represent them.

This means dumping the secret ballot. Voters should not hide under a sheet when fulfilling their responsibility.

The ballot was not always secret here in the United States, and we need a return to accountability.

If one votes to raise a local tax, or anything else, one should be proud of his decision, and have no problem explaining it to his affected neighbors.

Voting is the bedrock of our form of self government, and should be held to the highest standard. You cant build a castle in the sand and expect it to last.

Multiply two measurements made with a tape measure scaled out to eights, say 3/8 and 1/2”, so .375 x .500 = .1875, answer accurate to an half of a ten thousandth of an inch. From an eighth inch ruler? It is not significant, your results are only as good as what you put in to achieving them.

Unaccountable voters really lead to an unaccountable government.

Only those who fear being responsible for decision making chose to cower under a sheet.

[Mark was here]

1. Only persons who are eligible to vote for a candidate should be permitted to donate money to the campaign of that candidate.

Don't think much of property rights do you? I know silly question because the answer is obvious from your suggestion that you really have zero respect for property rights.

If you want to give your property away, it is a right of ownership, if you allow the government to decide for you, who you can give your property to, you have given up ownership.

[Uncle Ike]

” If you want to give your property away, it is a right of ownership, if you allow the government to decide for you, who you can give your property to, you have given up ownership. “

Ah, yes — then it must be perfectly acceptable to give ‘private property’ in exchange for recreational drugs, child pornography, or favorable judicial rulings.....

Grow up.....

[Mark was here]

3. Polling in all forms should be outlawed, to minimize the influence of Media on elections...

So you want the government to limit what you can ask and say to others?

I know silly question, because it is obvious from your suggestion that you have zero respect for free speech.

[EBH]

It is interesting in that in 2006 Cleveland had several thousand ILLEGAL votes cast and since they couldn’t violate the secrecy...the election results stood. They couldn’t go in and remove the ILLEGAL votes, nor invalidate the elections.

[Mark was here]

Grow up.....

Resorting to insults, you are a real piece of work, that should be flushed down the toilet.

Hows that for promoting a decent conversation? More on your level?

For the record if someone is running for an office and I want to give him some of my property, it is my right to, as much as it annoys a freedom hater such as yourself, who would deny me the opportunity.

It was you who suggested limiting who people could give their property to.

[Caipirabob]

It is interesting in that in 2006 Cleveland had several thousand ILLEGAL votes cast and since they couldn’t violate the secrecy...the election results stood. They couldn’t go in and remove the ILLEGAL votes, nor invalidate the elections.

I think it speaks volumes towards establishing a voter identification system that determine valid voters before they ever vote. That's where the problem needs to be addressed. Heck, the Iraqis resolved it with cheap purple dye. Does anything believe we can't do this? It's because the rats are trying to block it and perpetuate the fraud.

[damondonion]

That's about the feeling I get. You look at that 2000 election in flori-duh... W was up 60K votes with 25 minutes left and Algor called up to concede and, then, 25 minutes later, presto chango, it was a dead heat. I mean, give me a break, nobody makes up 60K votes in 25 minutes. Somebody simply manufactured 60K votes and spread them around and simply missed his tally by a couple thousand. The only way anybody was able to produce a "dimpled chad(TM)" by experiment was by trying to punch twenty or thirty of those ballots at the same time, i.e. dimpled chads were a pure artifact of vote manufacturing, and they actually caught a demmy official driving around the next day with one of those vote machines in the trunk of his car and, naturally enough, THAT story fell into the usual black news hole as well. In a just world, they'd have tortured that clown until the cows came home.

Me, I'm tired of it and would just as soon toss the idea of the secret ballot if that's what it takes to stop this kind of BS and to prevent elections being won or lost for such reasons.