As an Aussie I thought I would see what posters think of the following:
There should be an independent electoral body that is responsible for drawing up the boundaries for each House of Reps districts. That the independent body conducts the elections and counts the votes. Also, that it should be on a Saturday and that any person eligible to vote should be able to vote on the day at any polling place in the USA.
Our system eliminates the possibility that a candidate in an election is in charge of that election. That scenario appeared to occur in 2018 in one US election.
Voter turnout has been in decline since the 1960s. Making it easier to register to vote hasn’t done a thing to increase voter participation, and I would argue that it probably makes it worse. When I first voted in 1984, I had to go to the local courthouse to register to vote. it was worth it for me, and I have voted in every general election since (have missed one or two local primaries).
Oh… I don’t know. There are many (soi disant) watchdog groups that are non-partisan (i.e. equally self serving, without regard to the party affiliation of the members.)
They all end up partisan at some point. Whether that’s towards politicians, ideologies, or the corporations they’ve either worked for or will be working for after they leave their appointments. It’s like you people have learned nothing from us.
The point of the Australian electoral commission is that it is non-partisan and removed from party affiliations. The drawing up of electoral boundaries, conduct of elections is removed from party affiliations.
Uh huh. Our Supreme Court is supposed to be non partisan. The FCC is supposed to be non partisan. The FDA is supposed to be non partisan. Like I said, it’s like you’ve learned nothing from us.
There will always be partisanship and corruption. You can’t simply legislate away human nature. We’ve tried.
Our elections are far more secure WITHOUT an independent body conducting the elections.
I do think something needs to be done about drawing congressional districts. Partisans drawing them is wrong on it’s face.
Letting people vote at any polling place is too complicated. That would require that people’s signatures and personal information be available at tens of thousands of polling places. It would require a central data hub that could be hacked. People can vote, I don’t think that’s even a big issue. We get several weeks to vote where I live and that is not unusual.