6 Things We Need To Do To Repair America's Crumbling Democracy

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http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/6-things-we-need-do-repair-americas-crumbling-democracy



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1. What Are 21st-Century Voting Rights?

For decades, progressives have asked where democratic renewal is supposed to begin. Some have argued for curbing the latest campaign finance abuses, such as billionaires dumping millions into federal races. Others have looked at the fact that tens of millions of eligible Americans won’t bother to vote. It’s not an either-or proposition. At the heart of these concerns is how political power is distributed and balanced.

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2. Can We Now Have Modern Elections?

Progressives want millions more people to vote. But those voters must be accommodated by the process, not impeded and tripped up at various stages of the vote.

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3. Get Partisans Out Of A Public Process

It’s also astounding how many avoidable conflicts of interest can be found in elections. Secretaries of state who are arch partisans should not be overseeing elections—issuing rules on who can vote and how ballots will or won’t count. The private companies that make or repair voting machines should not have owners or workers with ties to candidates and tickets. Machinery that cannot do recounts shouldn’t be used—period.

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4. Put The Public Back In A Public Process

Making elections more of a public process doesn’t just mean enrolling all eligible voters and removing the private sector from our electoral process. It also means improving polling place operations by raising the bar on training the several million volunteers who will serve as poll workers across the country in every election.

[JackN415]

1. Very reasonable article.