Been out a while with a bad infection, not Covid, and seems I've missed a little.
We had been talking about trying to get more parties in the election process and I've found a few things out.
In some states you have to get as many as 250,000 signatures to get your party on the ballot, if you aren't GOP or Dem.
There are places where each county/parish/or whatever the local political division is know by, requires registration fees to get on their ballot.
Some areas seem to have rules and regulations that seem to want to prohibit parties other than the Big Two.
Basically, local voting rules and regulations need to be changed, the massive indoctrination that you either vote GOP or Dem needs to be taken out of the picture, voter registration should not be under party affiliation, and qualified people need to run as "independents".
it may take several election cycles to get these changes made, but remember that the next election is in 2022 for the House.
I completely agree with you Jerry. One of the biggest problems in American politics is the long time entrenched power of the two party system and the way these two parties have created and even codified processes and rules to ensure their continued dominance.
Take redistricting as an example. Both parties have way too much say over the creation of voting districts required every decade. Both engage in all sorts of scrupulous and questionable actions to carve out districts that benefit their candidates.
Absolutely. Cynthia McKinney was the recipient of a grossly gerrymandered district that went from downtown Atlanta to Augusta. It carved through the counties with curves and loops, sometimes the boundary changed sides of streets back and forth. While she resided in Atlanta, she "represented" small towns and rural areas. She spent more time working for Atlanta than she did the rural areas.
Of course there have been instances of the GOP doing similar.
This type of districting doesn't give the voters actual representation.
Start with your local board of elections, remember that the big changes take time and always start small.
@jerry I agree the gerrymandered borders of districts look like they are cherry-picked (most of them are determined by the state legislature, including GA), but there will always be overlap between rural and urban representation in a district simply due to population densities.
I'm all for having more parties and choices, but only if to win an election you need over 50% of the vote. It is too easy for an extremists party to win if there are so many parties that one could win by having 15% of the vote.
I'd be happy just to have an independent candidate that had a legit shot rather than acting as a spoiler for starters.
I'm all for having more parties and choices, but only if to win an election you need over 50% of the vote. It is too easy for an extremists party to win if there are so many parties that one could win by having 15% of the vote.
In Ga, as seen in the last election, where several parties are concerned the two with the largest percentage get a run-off if no one got at least 50% of the vote.
