UNFAIR AND FAIR ELECTIONS

FAIR ELECTIONS:

Ways to make the election system fair:

THE MAIN PROBLEM: Voters must be able to vote their real preferences without penalty. The bias against similar platforms must be removed. For years, the method used was to make it hard for third-party candidates to get on the ballot. This is not very fair, and does nothing to stop the problem in primary elections. A way must be found to have fair elections with three or more choices.

ANSWERS?

Plurality Voting ("VOTE FOR ONLY ONE") must be abolished permanently. Voters must be able to have a say on each candidate, independently of the say they have on the other candidates. Plurality Voting is not an independent process; it is a disjoint (mutually exclusive) process. It is guaranteed to have interaction problems.

Approval Voting ("VOTE FOR AS MANY AS YOU WANT") doesn't work either. It gives more power to the voter favoring several choices, compared to the voter favoring one choice has. A way is needed to give each voter the same power in the polls.

Ranking Voting ("PLACE THE CANDIDATES IN ORDER") doesn't work either. It can't tell where a voter stops liking candidates and starts disliking them. A voter could unwittingly vote for a candidate he dislikes.

CONJECTURE 3: "ONE MAN - ONE VOTE" should really mean "one man - one vote per candidate." The voter should have the right to vote on the desirability of each candidate INDEPENDENTLY of his vote on other candidates.

Note that, in the above voting methods, a vote for a choice has much more weight than a vote against a choice. In some of them, you either can not vote against a choice, or you must vote against all other choices. This difference shows the weaknesses of the above voting methods. Unequal weightings of votes for a choice, compared to votes against a choice, cause these biases. This fact leads to the next conjecture:

CONJECTURE 4: To be a fair election system, a vote against a choice must have exactly the same weight a vote for the same choice has.

The biggest defect in Plurality Voting is the unequal power of votes for different choices. This defect must be permanently eliminated in any future election system:

CONJECTURE 5: To be a fair election system, a vote for or against any choice must have exactly the same weight that any vote for or against any other choice has. Also, a vote for or against any political position must have exactly the same weight that any vote for or against any other political position has.

Another problem surfaced when Ross Perot was talked into returning to the race by Bill Clinton. It is possible in the Plurality Voting System to control the outcome of an election by having someone run for that office with a particular platform. Thus, the need to prevent this kind of trickery is obvious:

CONJECTURE 6: To be a fair election system, the entry or departure of a candidate in a race must not have the power to change the outcome of the election, unless that candidate wins the election when running.

Combining these four conjectures leads to a practical solution for this problem:

THE SOLUTION:

The voting device, lever, or paper ballot must have three selections for each candidate or issue: "YES," "ABSTAIN," and "NO." If the voter does not make a selection on that candidate or issue, the "ABSTAIN" choice is counted. Selections on one candidate must be entirely free from interlock with selections made on another candidate in the same race.

Compute the vote total for each candidate or issue by subtracting the "NO" tally from the "YES" tally. The highest positive total wins the election. If all candidates have negative totals, a special election with new candidates must be held. If it happens repeatedly on an administrative office, it means the people want the office abolished.

The above forms the basis of the Independent Voting System.

The Independent Voting System ALWAYS chooses the candidate who pleases the most voters.

Links:

• FAIR ELECTION EXAMPLE
• INDEPENDENT VOTING -- A FAIR SYSTEM
• COMPARING ELECTION SYSTEMS

OTHER REFORMS:

Implement these to remove other biases:

1. Let voters vote on each bill after it passes all houses and the executive.
2. Make it legal for any law-abiding citizen who meets the qualifications to seek office.
3. Remove petition signature requirements to be on ballot.
4. Put issues as questions on the ballot too.
5. Waive taxes and fees for any media giving equal free resources to all candidates.
6. Prohibit campaign spending on radio, TV, newspaper, or internet advertizing.
7. Have the Post Office provide two free mailings to all households in the district.
8. Don't allow riders on bills, except riders that remove old law or funding to allow the new.
9. Put each budget item on the ballot as a separate question.
10. Allow all eligible candidates who want to run for office to be on ballot.
11. Require a candidate to file only once, on the level of government the office is on.
12. Allow multiple write in votes, with YES and NO choices on each one.
13. Don't require write-in candidates to register to be counted.
14. Count write-ins such as "Abolish Office," and act accordingly if a write-in wins.
15. The seniority system must be abolished.
16. Legislative committees must be abolished.
17. Slanted news coverage must be legally defined as libel.
18. Abolish straight-party voting. It is meaningless in Independent Voting.

ADVANTAGES OF INDEPENDENT VOTING:

1. Independent Voting ALWAYS chooses the candidate who pleases the most people.
2. No primary is needed with the Independent Voting System. Since candidates do not interfere with each other's votes, a party may have more than one candidate running.
3. Since candidates do not interfere with each other's votes, signature petitions are no longer necessary.
4. Negative campaigning by candidates will end, because voting for one candidate does not imply voting against another candidate. Only protest groups will use negative campaigning.
5. A candidate entering the race has no effect on the outcome of the election, unless he wins the election.
6. The voter can choose independently on each candidate or issue.
7. Legislators should use this system too, so floor votes can be fair.
8. Referendums must use this system too.
9. The order of names on the ballot no longer has any influence on voters.
10. A voter can vote against any number of choices.
11. The voter can vote against all choices, and the vote actually counts.
12. A voter can vote for two or more desirable choices.
13. Voter can vote for the best choices, and against the worst choices.
14. Multiple candidates do not split up the vote of a majority.
15. This makes sure the voter can vote his preference on all issues.
16. Candidates win on voter preferences on issues, not on preference on people.
17. Free media access gives candidates the chance to be elected.
18. Free broadcasts inform voters, and give the candidate enough coverage.
19. Candidate gets name recognition through free media coverage.
20. Public votes on issues partially nullify lies, and changes in political stand.
21. People can vote to keep the worst choice out, and also vote for the best choice.
22. Committees will not sway votes if they don't exist.
23. The vote of the majority opinion is not split by this multiple vote system.
24. Different people can focus on different issues in the votes on issues.
25. If no candidate supports the majority view on major issues, the issue vote does.
26. If someone really wants to vote a Plurality ballot in an Independent Voting election, he can vote YES on one candidate, and abstain on all the others.
27. If someone really wants to vote an Approval ballot in an Independent Voting election, he can vote YES on any candidates he wants, and abstain on all the others.

DISADVANTAGES OF INDEPENDENT VOTING:

1. Existing voting machines can't work with this system, unless two candidate slots are used for each choice. This reduces the capacity of the machine.
2. Each ballot cast will take more time in the booth.
3. People who do not understand probability will favor the old Plurality system, because it is simpler, even though it is wrong.
4. Minorities who have benefited from the old inequitable system will oppose the change, in order to keep their advantage.
5. Statisticians who think in percentages will not like this system, because "percent of the vote" is meaningless in Independent Voting.
6. Party officials will not like the lack of a straight-party vote, because they want to cheat, by making it easier to vote for all of their candidates. But straight-party voting is meaningless in Independent Voting.