Obama Electoral Commission Omission: Our Voting System Needs Real Reform
We all want voting to be more efficient and less time consuming. But these upgrades won’t change what our electoral system produces—a government paralyzed by partisan gridlock.
Our
democracy is in disrepair. The Supreme Court recently crippled the
pre-clearance remedy of the Voting Rights Act. Efforts are underway in a
number of states, north and south, to limit voting by imposing
stringent identification standards. The 40 percent of Americans who are
independents are barred from participating in primary elections in most
states, unless one of the major parties invites them. Our rigged
system of redistricting is manifestly partisan. There is unprecedented
gridlock in Washington and alarming levels of corruption in State
legislatures.
This
sorry state of affairs has not gone entirely unnoticed. Recently,
President Obama appointed a Presidential Commission on Election
Administration, in response to breakdown and conflict in the electoral
arena. Its mandate is to “promote the efficient administration of
elections,” an understatement of the problem if there ever was one.... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
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